


Two Worlds One Life

by Tertia_Quinn



Category: The Umbrella Academy (Comics), The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-29
Updated: 2020-01-21
Packaged: 2020-03-26 16:40:13
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 35,298
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19009693
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tertia_Quinn/pseuds/Tertia_Quinn
Summary: "This time feels different. It's like we're saying goodbye. I don't understand it and I can't explain it to you... but please for once in your life listen to someone. Listen to me."These were some of the last words Vanya said before Five vanished. One piece of her world gone... with another gained.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: So just like the first time, I own nothing and this has sex. Everybody's 16. Buckle up kids this one's gonna get messy. XD

_How could this have happened?_ Vanya stared down at the little white stick, it's positive sign mocking her as she looked down at it in pained disbelief. It was one night, just one. Her whole life she’d always done what everyone else had wanted, Dad's word was law for her and now here she was. The one time she’d done something for herself, the one time she’d let herself get swept away by her feelings and now it looked like she was going to be paying for it for the rest of her existence.

She fell back against the bathroom wall and let out a sardonic laugh as she slid down to the floor. Three months. It had been three months since he had…..since it had happened and he was still gone. And now this. 

She buried her face in her knees and let out a half sob as the memories rose up unbidden in her mind and threatened to drown her. 

_Warm hands caressing her face. Sliding down her neck to her collarbone, his eyes an electric blue as he started undoing the buttons on her blouse._

“I’m going to do it, Anya, I’m going to prove him wrong and then I’ll come back for you and there won’t be any way for him to stop us. Anywhere you want to go, we’ll go. We’ll be free. I'm not going to be stupid like Luther, he’s not going to get the chance to ruin us.”

_The dark and smug promise on his face, the first time he'd kissed her. Their mouths fumbling and desperate as he fused them together, all fire and heat and the feeling that he was consuming her very soul._

"It'll be fine I promise. Nothing's going to go wrong, my calculations are impeccable. I know what I'm doing." 

_The pain when he’d finally entered her, his face a mixture of euphoria and fear, demanding to know if she was alright, if he’d hurt her. Then morphing into smug satisfaction as she mewled out her pleasure and begged him to move._

“Don't you get it? I can't risk you. I just need to make this one little trip, just the one to prove it's safe and then I promise you. After this I'll never leave you behind again. I’ll come back to the exact moment I left. You won't even have time to know I'm gone. Anywhere you want to go. We'll go. Do you understand? Anytime, Anya. He'd never be able to find us if we're hiding in time.”

Laying beside him, her head pillowed on his shoulder, her hair fanned out across his chest like a blanket, she begged him to reconsider.

"Don't do it. Please, I have a bad feeling. I know you're smarter than any of us and your calculations have to be perfect, they usually are but Five...please. This time feels  
different. It's like we’re saying goodbye. I don't understand it and I can't explain it to you ….but please, for once in your life, listen to someone. Listen to me and don't go. " 

It was the only thing he'd ever denied her. And, as it turned out, it was the only thing she'd ever ask of him that really mattered. She'd sighed and tightened her arms around him. As if that could somehow magically keep him with her. 

"The library, in Alexandria," she'd finally said in a soft, defeated voice. "I want to go there." He'd grinned, his devastatingly handsome grin at her, flashed his dimples and pulled her up and on to his body. He fused their mouths together and then showed her what it meant to be his again, and again, and again.

She watched sadly the next morning, knowing there was nothing she could do as he'd stabbed the knife into the breakfast table demanding Hargreeves let him time travel, insisting he was ready. That his calculations were perfect. Her last hope flew out the window as even Dad had failed to sway him. She felt her breath leave her as he ran from the room and out of her life. 

At first, she'd tried to hope. Of course, he was coming back, he'd promised. He always kept his promises, especially to her. But then one month had passed...followed by two and now here she was, sitting on the bathroom floor with a white stick in her hand, wondering how all this was even possible.

She had chalked the sickness that had hit her in the first few weeks up to stress and missing him. She had been a virtual zombie and she hadn't even noticed or thought about her missing period until Allison had asked to borrow some of her supplies. Vanya’s world rocked on its axis and the floor seemed to disappear out from under her. The look on her face must have been terrifying because Allison had immediately led her to the couch and started calling for mom.

She’d shuttered and closed her eyes counting frantically back in her head. 

"No, no Allison stop, I'm fine. STOP." She reached out and grabbed her wrist. If mom found out, then Dad would know and if Dad knew he would…. No No No she didn't even know if it was true yet, better not to think on it until she knew for sure.

"I didn't really eat anything today and I think it's catching up to me, that's all. I'm fine really."

The lie came easily to her lips and she marveled at her ability to tell it. If...if she was right, Dad could never know. It would be all she had left of Five and Dad would...Dad would...take it and ..no NO!! she needed to find out if she was right first. 

Allison had looked at her with a knowing sadness and smoothed her bangs from her eyes.

"We all miss him, Vanya. But that doesn't mean we can just stop living our lives."

For the first time in her life, Vanya wanted to hit her sister. _What lives?_ Her mind screamed. _We're trapped. We’re not allowed to have lives. We're all trapped here in this hell hole with a mad man who calls himself Dad, who treats us like puppets and you want to preach to me about moving on?? He was my life!_ He…

She clenched her fists and bit her lip until it bled. Her brown eyes swimming with unshed tears, nodding her head she stood up from the couch and made her escape.

Through several acts that Vanya swore had to be blessed by the gods (she still wasn't quite sure how she'd pulled it off) she'd managed to sneak out to the nearest drug store and buy herself a test, make her way back to the house then locked herself in the first bathroom she could find. That led her back here. To this moment, alone on the bathroom floor, her head buried in her knees and wondering what the Hell she was supposed to do next.

“What the fuck am I going to do?” she muttered again, staring at her knees as if somehow they could give her the answer. What the fuck was she going to do? She couldn't take care of a baby. She could barely take care of herself...how was she going to...She was 16 years old. Legally she couldn't even work a full-time job yet. How was she supposed to get money for food and stuff how was she going to... and that's not even going into doctors fees and…. And things she would need for the… for the baby.

She was going to have a baby. A little piece of Five that no one could ever take away from her. Someone who would love her unconditionally that she realized she already loved… A little boy or girl with Five’s eyes and dimples and her hair and nose.

She placed a hand on her stomach and marveled to herself. It was just a clump of cells right now. A tiny spark of life made from both of them but it was completely dependent on her. It was counting on her to love and protect it.

She realized in that moment she could never give it up.

She’d find a way. If she had to bus tables and clean toilets or get down on her knees and scrub floors until her fingers bled. She’d find a job and do what she had to to make it work, because…... she loved it.

Her eyes flashed white and her mouth set itself into a straight line. Come Hell or high water it was hers and it was Five's and may the gods have mercy on Dad or ANYONE who was dumb enough to think they could take it from her. Because she wouldn't let them.


	2. Reaction

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Same as before. I own nothing everyone is 16 and there's sex. You have been warned.

The first thing she did (after she'd managed to pull herself together and pick herself up and off the bathroom floor) was head for the library. From the time she was little, it had been a magical place for her, a sort of friend and haven that had all the answers. When everyone else was too busy to be bothered with her, she’d go to the library and it was always there, ready and waiting for her with a new adventure or an answer to some inane question she didn't even realize she had yet. That was probably the reason she’d told Five she wanted to go to….She closed her eyes and shook her head ruthlessly stomping on that thought

 _“Don't think on it,”_ she mentally smacked herself. _“You don't have time to cry anymore, it won't help and he's gone….”_ she bit her lip, reopening the wound from earlier. _“You're going to start showing soon and then….. You need to pick yourself up and figure out what to do next, it's too important... “_

She moved to the stacks and started pulling everything she could from the shelves that had anything to do with human anatomy. Or might mention pregnancy. It was a very limited selection...Seriously, Dad was supposed to be all about knowledge and his library had nothing on pregnancy or kids. Christ, maybe that's why he was such a bad parent. He forgot to buy the instruction manuals. 

She grabbed her meager findings and moved to the table and started to look through them. Two hours in, all she had learned was that elephants have the longest gestation period on earth and that hippos could give birth underwater. Both interesting facts in their own right but nothing that would help her. She gave a slightly hysterical laugh. In less than 6 months she was going to have a baby. There was going to be a tiny little person who was completely dependent on her For everything and all she knew about any of it was that Hippos could give birth underwater… The last time she checked she was neither Hippo or elephant so knowing their birthing habits only served to scare her.

Three hours and she was frustrated and ready to cry. She turned to the next page of Gray’s Anatomy, the first edition, and froze...Equations…..All in Five’s neat boxy handwriting, covered the page. She flipped to the next and the next and the next, only to be met with the same. Neat, and blocky numbers, scrawled across every page in a spider web of patterns each more complicated and incomprehensible than the last. At some point, Five must have come in here, had an idea and just started writing on the first free surface he could find. She wondered if maybe he’d defaced the book on purpose. She wouldn't put it past him, he took great pleasure in any chance he was given to annoy Dad. Disfiguring one of his books would have made it on his top ten lists.. She flipped to the last page and lost it. There, in his neat handwriting, was her name circled several times, underlined, followed by the word "Time" and a question mark.

She grabbed at her hair with both hands pulled and let out a loud and desperate sob. 

“Five, you idiot, you complete and total asshole! How could you do this? You promised...You promised me. How could you just……..How could you just leave me here to deal with this all by myself? I don't know…..anything about babies....I ..don't know how to do this. I don't know what to do.”

She sobbed again and then jerked as she felt a hand land on her shoulder.

“Vanya?” a quiet voice asked. "Are you okay?” 

Soft, brown eyes peered down at her, filled with worry, the face they belonged to flinching as he caught a glimpse of what she’d been reading. 

“You found his notes, huh?”

“I don't know what to do, Ben.” she whimpered softly seeming to fold in on herself, “He’s left me here all alone, and I don't know what to do.” 

“Of course, you know what to do.” He scolded her lightly, smoothing her bangs back across her forehead. “You get up and live. He wouldn't want you sitting around here and moping like he was dead. Something had to have gone wrong, something that he couldn't predict, because he wouldn't have left you here. Not willingly. We all know that. And you’re not alone. You have me and Klaus...and the others. Even if they don't really know how to show it."

Vanya laughed a crazy, half-deranged laugh, the tears falling faster as he stared at her in puzzlement.

“I wish it was that easy. I can't just...you don't understand.” 

“What don’t I understand, V?” He asked softly, turning the chair next to her so he could sit down and face her.

She glanced down at the book, Five’s scrawl happily covering the pages and seeming to grin back up at her. She closed her eyes swallowed, then looked back up to Ben and mumbled something he couldn't understand.

“What?" He asked in puzzlement. 

She looked up and glanced around the room in paranoia, “I can't…. Ben, I can't, if he finds out…"

“Vanya, you’re scaring me. You need to tell me what's wrong. Right now. I can't help you if you don't.”

Vanya closed her eyes, the tears still chasing each other down her face. She needed someone. She needed someone she could trust, because this was killing her and she didn't know what to do and….. suddenly, her mind flashed back to one of the many rants Five had thrown at her one day:

_They had just come back from a mission and Vanya could tell it had been bad from the raised voices and slamming of doors. He’d teleported directly to her room and slumped over on her bed. His head landing neatly in her lap nearly dislodging the book she’d been trying to read. It turned out that Luther had done something Five had felt was exceedingly stupid, and he couldn't understand how someone could refuse to see what was so plain to him. “How he could be so brainless?! He almost got Klaus killed. I swear Anya...He's the god damned scarecrow from that movie you love so much. If he only had a brain. Christ, if it wasn't for you and Ben, I’d go mad. You’re the only two in this hell hole with a working brain.”_

Thinking on all this now, she turned to face Ben studied his open and worried face for a bit then decided to take a chance, and trust him. Leaning forward, she closed her eyes and whispered. 

Ben’s face immediately was leached of all its color and his eyes grew to the size of the saucers mom liked to serve them cake on.

“What?!” He asked in disbelief. "WHAT?!... Vanya I….” All the breath seemed to leave his lungs in a giant whoosh of sound.

“Are you sure?” He asked when his breath finally returned to him. She nodded and buried her face in her hands miserably.

“I checked the other day. Its….I took a test...and…” she sputtered.  
Ben swore colorfully, disbelief pouring from his body in waves. He got up and started to pace the floor erratically, his eyes wild. 

“I didn't even realize…" she whimpered. "Not until Allison ask if she could borrow supplies. Things have been so...messed up and I…"

“ALLISON KNOWS?!” He roared, the disbelief crashing through his voice like a tornado.

“V... Please, Please tell me you didn't...God Allison…”.

“No, goddess no, Allison….How stupid do you think I am? She wouldn't understand, she’d go straight to…Dad. And she’d think she was helping me, she…..”  
“Vanya, listen to me.” he sat down beside her, his eyes full of fear and protectiveness, a deadly calm seeming to settle over his features as he pulled her face from her hands and wrapped his own around her wrists. “He can’t...V, he...Dad can't....EVER know… EVER, not if you want to keep it…..shit, you do want to keep it, right? I should have asked that first, but...Jesus...it’s Five’s ...Shit.”

“I know," Vanya whimpered "I know and I do. I want to keep it. It's…. it's his and it's mine and I…….I can’t…...I love it, Ben...I already love it so much and he’s just….he's gone...He promised me he wouldn't and he's left me here…...and I don't …...I don't know what to do.” she managed to get out wiping her eyes and nose with her sleeve.

“I tried so hard,” she whimpered. “I begged him not to go. I told him I had a bad feeling and he just...he wouldn't listen. He told me he had to do it. Said it was important and that he’d come back for me. Said he’d be right back, that I wouldn't even have time to notice he was gone.” She lowered her face again her shoulders, shaking in defeat.

“Fuck” Ben exclaimed again, letting go of her wrists and sprawling bonelessly back into his chair. “Just Fuck…”

“I’ll say this for him, he doesn't do anything halfway. When he fucks up, he does it epically.” 

“Fuck,” he exclaimed again.

Vanya gave a sardonic laugh and turned her eyes back to him.

“You’re going to be a...And Five he’s going to be a….”

“Yeah,” she whispered, her hand falling on her stomach again. A small smile tugging at the corners of her mouth.

“You’re going to be a great one. You know that right?” He told her earnestly. “It’s going to be so lucky to have you for a....”

“None of us are lucky, Ben. We haven't been lucky since the day we were born. If we were lucky, he never would have found us and we'd be normal and happy. We'd....this whole family…..Ben, we're all so fucked up. My poor ...I don't know what to do.”

"Well, the first thing we've gotta do is get you to some kind of doctor. Someone who won't decide they have to report back to Dad. You're gonna need things...I think there's a free clinic in the town somewhere. After we do that and make sure everything is alright...well, we can start worrying about what comes next after that.”

She looked at him, her chin wobbling and then threw herself at him. Her body shaking with sobs as she unloaded and released the stress of the past day on him. She buried her face in his shoulder and he stroked her hair whispering nonsensically reassuring things. He promised her it would be okay and they would figure it out. They would get through it all. It was a promise he had every intention of keeping. Unfortunately, it was also a promise that had never been his to make. Five weeks later, everything would change again. Vanya’s world would be bathed in fire and blood and Ben would be just as lost to her as Five.


	3. “Uncle Ben”

For as long as Vanya could remember, Ben had always been the quiet one. Throughout her life, he’d been a solid and calming presence, who was either filling in for Klaus’s missing conscience or trailing after Five while they discussed the ins and outs about the mysteries of the Universe. If she was honest with herself, she would have to admit that, at first, she had been a bit jealous and intimidated by him. From the very beginning, it had always been her and Five. One of her first memories were of Five building an impossibly intricate lego tower for her and declaring them King and Queen of it. He then promptly forced Diego to apologize when he’d done what little boys are prone to do and inevitably destroyed it, making her cry.

So, it was with great trepidation and a sense of doom that she watched when someone else started following him around, who could actually keep up with his discussions on string theories and alternate dimensions. Someone who could keep up and... argue them back. She was worried and apparently, it showed because Five scoffed, grabbed her hand, pulled her to his side and cuddled her close. He sent a warning glare over her head, his blue eyes sparking dangerously and practically daring him to say something. Ben had just smiled his gentle smile and that as they say, had been that. From then on, if he wasn't with Klaus, Ben usually could be found sitting with Five, listening to Vanya practice her violin or pouring over some ancient book. Their theories would bounce back and forth between them like some deranged ping pong ball, each one more wild and eccentric than the last.

Really, when she thought about it, of course it was inevitable that Ben would be the one she wound up confiding in. Five trusted him and she’d been trusting Five since before she even knew what the word meant, so when she actually considered it, she wasn't all that surprised. 

From the moment she’d told him, a weight seemed to lift from her shoulders and she allowed herself to think that maybe he was right when he said she wasn't alone in this. She had her brother, and maybe he knew what he was talking about when he said everything would be okay. He seemed to be more careful with her though. Like she was something fragile that could fall to pieces at any moment. He was opening doors and pulling out chairs for her, making sure she didn't lift anything heavy and just generally being there for her. He’d even managed to guilt her into actually eating dinner that night. Then he'd come and held her hair back when she had inevitably gotten sick and heaved it all back up. The baby seemed to be just as picky as Five was about what Vanya ate. At least now she knew the reason she couldn't seem to keep anything down and eventually, it would pass.

She gagged into the bowl one last time then reached up and flushed it. Coughing, she turned and rested her head miserably on the side of the toilet and peered up at him with squinty eyes. 

“Not very glamorous, is it?” she commented with a wry smile gracing her face. He turned on the faucet then wet a washcloth and handed it to her.

“It’s to be expected V, you’re well...you’re, yeah.” He waved his hands around erratically, then gestured to her stomach and she giggled a bit.

“We really have to get you to that clinic though. Maybe they can give you something for the nausea. When was the last time you were able to keep something down?” It took her a minute to remember. 

"Yesterday at lunch,” she answered finally, letting him help her up off the floor. “Mom made soup and I guess it was easier on my stomach.”

"Tomorrow, first thing after breakfast, we’re going into town to find that clinic."

"Ben,” she sighed tiredly, leaning over the sink and taking a minute to rinse out her mouth. 

“You have training in the morning. Even if I could get away with disappearing for a bit, they’re definitely going to notice when you don't show up."

"Let them,” he said, “We’ll just tell them we snuck out to see a movie or something. Worst case scenario, he gives me "special training" for a few days. You need to see a doctor, V, it's too important, especially if you’re not eating.”

“I'm eating,” she said defensively. He stared at her in blatant disbelief. 

“It’s just not staying down.” she sighed as she realized he wasn't going to let it go. 

“Tomorrow after lunch. That's when you usually escape to the Library right? Maybe he won't notice if we go then. I know it sucks. But you’ll feel so much better when we’re sure everything is okay.” 

“I know that mentally. It’s just getting my brain to actually realize and agree... that's the problem.” she retorted as he opened the door for her and followed her down the hall to her room. She paused by the stairs that led up to Five’s room, misery etched into her every feature then shook her head, and moved on to her door.

“It really is going to be okay, you know.” He told her as they stood outside of it. “We’ll go to the clinic. They’ll tell us everything is alright, probably give you some medicine for nausea and then in a couple months, we’ll have a little Five or Vanya running around who calls me uncle Ben.”

“Gods, I hope you’re right. I’m...so scared, Ben. What if it's not okay? What if there’s something wrong with it? What if it’s...what if it’s not normal?” she swallowed here, her eyes wild and her mind spinning new scenarios, each more terrifying than the last. “What if it’s like us and...I don't...I'm just ordinary but...Five...Ben...he’s…”

"Hey, hey, calm down,” he said in a soothing voice as he pulled her into a hug. “We'll cross that bridge when we come to it. Right now, the only thing you need to be worrying about is sleeping and eating."

She pulled back from the hug and gave him a flat stare.

"When did you get so smart?" she asked in a snarky voice.

"I always have been." He tweaked her nose and they both turned their heads as they heard a door open. 

“Ben? Vanya?” a sleepy voice asked. "What are you guys doing?” Vanya gripped his hand in fear and Ben squeezed hers back and shrugged it off. 

“Go back to bed Klaus, it's nothing. V just had a nightmare and I heard her and decided to wake her up."

“Really?" he asked, cocking an eyebrow, leaning against his door frame and looking infinitely more awake than he had before.

“Vanya had a nightmare and you heard it from your room?” 

“Yes.” Ben sighed in exasperation. 

“Funny how you heard it and I didn't, seeing as how my room is right next to hers and yours is down the hall.”

Vanya flinched then looked up to meet Klaus's eyes. She had obviously been crying and there were bags, underneath the bags under her eyes. Klaus winced in sympathy and softened his tone. 

“Sorry V, I should have been paying more attention. You okay?”  
Vanya took that moment to discover that she was apparently sensitive to everything now and her face crumpled at the thought that Klaus actually cared about how she felt. She shook her head and tried to stop the tears from coming again. 

“No” she whimpered bringing up her sleeve cuff to wipe her eyes, her voice breaking, she covered her eyes with her hands and took several deep breaths. 

“Ben’s right," she said at last when she pulled herself together and managed to stop the tears. “It was just a bad dream. I'm okay...it just upset me.” 

"He’ll be back Vanya, you just have to give him time." She glanced up only to see Klaus’s jade colored eyes staring back at her in sympathy and shared pain. 

Unable to stop herself, she snorted and laughed a dark and hopeless laugh, that was so full of pain and misery, it physically hurt the listener, causing both Klaus and Ben to flinch. 

“It’s been three months Klaus. Three. If he was coming back, he’d be here.” She heaved a miserable and heavy sigh then somehow managed to muster a weak smile for them. 

"Either way, I'm too tired to think about this any more tonight. I'm going to try to go back to bed." She put her hand on Ben's shoulder, then sagging her own in defeat, she opened her door and disappeared inside. Not even bothering to turn on a light, she exchanged her skirt and blouse for the uniformed blue pajamas Dad made them wear, wearily climbed into bed, and curled up into a fetal position. 

It had been one of the longest days in Vanya’s life and tomorrow promised to be worse. She couldn’t afford to be exhausted on top of everything else.

***********************************************************************************************************

She woke to the sound of knocking and Grace's sweet voice informing her it was time to get up. She tried, really, she did, but as much as she wanted to, she just couldn't find it in herself to move. The bed felt so nice and she was so warm…. so snuggling back under her covers, she allowed herself to fall back into the mercy filled arms of sleep. 

The knocking started up again, only this time it was more intense. "G'way" she whined, pulling the blankets further up over her head as it got louder. 

“V!" an urgent voice demanded, a hand grabbing her shoulder and shaking it. "You need to get up, if you don't, we’re going to be late and Dad….you need to get up!!!.” 

“....Vanya!….Vanya!!!…...Anya!!!…”  
“G’back sleep Five, tired. Tell me bout quashions later.” she slurred, burying her face further into the pillow. “Wanna sleep.” Her mind finally registered the 'Anya' and she sat up so fast, her head spun. 

“Five?" she called out desperately. She forced her eyes to focus, only to be met with Ben’s worry filled brown ones instead of the smug electric blue she was longing for. 

“I'm sorry V, it’s just me. You really need to get up. We have maybe 15 minutes to be ready and downstairs. Mom’s come by your door twice now and I thought it would be best if we didn't start the day off to one of Dad's punishments. We’re going to have enough to deal with later."

"Sokay." she mumbled, using the heel of her hand to try and clear the sleep from her eyes. She took a min to brood then realized what he’d actually said.

"Crap." she cursed, groaning in disappointment and forcing herself out of the bed. She stumbled toward her closet door and then sluggishly started pulling out the things she would need for the day.

"I’ll wait for you outside." he said, leaving her room and closing her door behind him. 

Getting dressed as fast as she could, she ran a brush through her hair then made her way to the hall, where she found him waiting by her door.

“You didn't have to wait for me, you know,” she muttered, giving a weak smile and walking over to join him. Ben looked at her as if she had just said the most outrageous thing he'd ever heard.

“Yeah, no.” he answered flatly and began to hurry her towards the stairs. 

"It's not a problem." he flicked her on the forehead, "We just gotta hurry." They made their way down them and into the dining room as fast as possible and Vanya couldn’t help but wince when she noticed everyone else was already there and waiting for them.

Ben squeezed her on the shoulder as they moved to their seats and stood at attention behind them with their siblings.

Feeling eyes on her, she bit her lip nervously and looked up to find Klaus, of all people, shooting looks from her to Ben with a puzzled expression on his face. 

By the time Dad finally decided to have mercy and allowed them to sit, Vanya was so wound up, she felt like she was going to jump out of her skin.

The seat to the left of her was unbearably empty as it always was now and to top it all off, Mom set a bowl full of oatmeal in front of her and she shuttered. She detested oatmeal and everyone knew it. It had become a sort of a battle of wills between the two of them. At least once a week, without fail, Mom would set a bowl of it in front of her and Dad would watch to make sure she took that first bite. When Five had figured out what was going on, he had immediately latched on to it and turned it into a sort of game. He would figure out new and fun ways for her to avoid and “fake” eat it. Always managing to come up with something new that left both of them feeling smug and accomplished. 

He wasn't here to help her hide it this time. And now she had both Dad and Ben watching her to see if she ate.

“Number Seven!” a voice boomed, knocking her out of her memories,”Is there something wrong with your breakfast?” 

“No, sir.” she answered in a small voice. Her eyes going round as she looked up to meet the emotionless grey of their fathers. 

“Then I suggest you stop wasting our time, and my generosity and eat it.” 

Vanya looked down at the mush and grimaced, she poked at it a bit with her spoon and then feeling the pressure of everyone's eyes on her, scooped some up and brought it to her mouth.

Then the smell hit her. Oh God the smell. It was…..putrid...Her eyes watered and she gagged and dropped her spoon with a loud clatter and brought her napkin up to cover her nose hoping to filter it out. It was...she had smelled oatmeal before but this....this didn't smell like oatmeal. It was rancid and putrid and everything bad she could think of all rolled into one. Is this what happens when you're pregnant? Did normal everyday unpleasant stuff start smelling like...like this? 

Peering through watery eyes, she saw Ben strain, ready to get up, knowing that he shouldn’t but ready to anyway, and she gave the tiniest shake of her head, telling him to stay put. He clenched his teeth and his jaw flexed but unlike Five, Ben could actually listen to reason and he sent a barely noticeable nod back.

She knew Mom wouldn't have served her anything that had gone bad and...she couldn't afford to draw too much attention to herself, so through a herculean effort, she managed to pick the spoon back up before anything could be said and forced it into her mouth. She willed herself not to be sick as she swallowed it as fast as she could.

_Don't be sick, don't be sick, don't be sick. Please,_ she begged desperately without realizing what she was doing. _I know its gross and disgusting and definitely not what we want. But we don't have a choice here, so please baby, give mommy a break and help her keep it down._

She felt a prick of curiosity and then a wave of irritation pass over her. It was almost as if something had heard her, because her stomach settled itself and the smell dissipated, it waxed and waned until it smelled like normal ordinary oatmeal and she was able to take a few more bites. Enough that Hargreeves, who up until that point had been watching her, seemed to be satisfied and finally turned his eyes back to his own dish and started to eat. 

Vanya shuddered as she poked and prodded at her bowl with her spoon then took another bite. For the next hour, she picked at the bowl, managing to somehow make it look half eaten. Each tick of the clock seemed to take hours and by the time they were dismissed, she was ready to scream. 

“Jesus Christ,” she muttered to Ben as they stood up, getting ready to leave the room. 

“You okay?” He asked in a worried voice “I thought you were going to be sick right at the table.”

“You weren't the only one. The oatmeal...it smelled. It was indescribable Ben. I’ve never smelled anything so bad in my life. It was like every bad thing I’ve ever smelled ever all rolled into one. And I had to eat it.”

Ben grimaced at her in sympathy. “Do you think it's because you’re well, you know…” He made his wild gestures again and If the situation hadn't been what it was, he would have snickered at the look that settled itself across her face. It was such an exaggerated and patented Five expression, so full of sarcasm and disbelief that anyone could have said something so stupid that he didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

“No Ben, it was because of the Pink Elephant Dad keeps in the”……

“Vanya, sweetheart," a voice called out, stopping them in their tracks as they reached the door. “Did you forget something?” Vanya turned to meet Grace’s stepford smile, her face a mixture of puzzlement and nervousness. 

“No..?” she answered uncertainly, feeling Ben place his hand on her shoulder in silent support. 

“Your medicine silly.” She said in her melodic voice.. “You forgot to take your pill." 

“Oh.” Vanya said softly. In all the excitement with the oatmeal, it had completely slipped her mind. She felt Ben's hand tightened on her shoulder, going from supportive to worried as she reached out and accepted the pill then tossed it back in a practiced move.

“Good girl,” Grace praised, causing Vanya's hackles to raise at being treated like a two year old. “You know it's very important that you remember to take your medicine. We wouldn't want you getting sick again, now would we.”

“No,” Vanya answered in a saccharine voice, still channeling Five. “We wouldn't.” They left Grace in the dining room, making their way into the hall, where Vanya promptly fished into her pockets, pulled out a napkin and spit the pill back into it. 

“Vanya?” Ben asked questioningly, staring at the napkin she shoved in her pocket. 

“I haven't been able to hold one of those down in….it’s been weeks, Ben. I tried and it’s like the oatmeal, only ten times worse. Every time I take one, I wind up being violently ill, and ...well, now that I know about the baby, it just seems...foolish to try and take them. I’ll flush it next time I'm in the bathroom. It's what I’ve been doing and…..”

“Don't throw it away,” he interrupted worriedly. “They’ll probably want to know what meds you’re on at the clinic. In fact, do you have one of the bottles? I'm pretty sure they’re going to ask about stuff like that.”

“Ben,” Klaus’s impatient voice called from down the hall. “What are you doing? We don't have time for this, we have to get to training.” 

“In a minute Klaus,” he answered back. “Get the bottle and meet me in the library.”

“BEN!!” Klaus called again impatiently. 

“The library V, be there after lunch or I’ll come looking for you. And it is going to be okay, you’ll see.” He squeezed her shoulder and then turned to yell back at Klaus. 

“I'm coming,” he called as Vanya watched him meet up with Klaus, say something, and disappear down the hall. 

“Let's hope your uncle Ben is right baby,” she whispered as she turned down the hall and made her way to the room she had her own studies in. “Otherwise,..... well we’re not going to think about it right now.” She felt another weird prick of curiosity hit her but then shrugged it off and continued on her way.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And I wanted to have this one out sooner but life got in the way. Anyway, here it is and I hope you enjoyed it.


	4. Apple Blossom Days

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Despite rumors to the contrary and several kidnapping attempts I still own NOTHING. :p

Four months ago

 _“Do you ever think about what we’ll do when we finally make it out of here?”_ She asked in a faint voice, afraid of disturbing the rare peace that had managed to settle over them. She was leaning, with her back against one of the many apple trees that littered the roof of the mansion, a blanket laying underneath them as Five’s head rested securely in her lap, the sun shining warmly, down upon them.

 _“I don’t have to think about it.”_ he answered arrogantly, keeping his eyes closed, nearly purring as she raked her nails across his scalp in a light caress. 

_“I already know what we're going to be doing. I just have to get us out first.”_ Her fingers froze in his hair and her whole body stiffened.

 _“Us?”_ She asked in a faint trembling voice. Hearing the tone and feeling her distress, he opened his exhausted eyes and looked up at her in disbelief. 

_“Yes, Us,"_ he responded as if it was the most obvious thing in the world, squinting up at her and watching as she bit her lip anxiously. _“You don’t really believe I would ever leave you behind, do you?”_ She cast her eyes to the side and away from him unable to answer and he sat up in irritation. 

_“Anya?......Anya look at me,”_ he demanded, reaching out and grabbing her chin with his long fingers and locking his eyes with hers. 

_“No matter what happens, No matter where we go or what we do. I Will NEVER leave you, do you understand?"_

She stared at him, her breath hitching in her chest as she fought not to cry. 

_“Do you understand?”_ he asked again, his blue eyes twin burning flames of intensity, that threatened to consume her whole.

 _“What if you don’t have a choice?”_ she finally managed to get out. _"What if Dad..?”_

He made a tsking sound, as if what she had just said offended every sense he possessed.

 _“Dad,”_ he said, spitting out the title as if it were a curse. _"Isn't going to have any say in the matter. He never did."_

 _“Things happen Five,"_ she closed her eyes here, still fighting back the tears. _"We never really know what…."_

 _“Fine,”_ he sighed in exasperation, giving in and trying to allay her fears. _"If some freak and impossible thing happens and we do get separated, I'll find my way back to you. Understand?"_ He gripped her chin tighter, shaking it from side to side until she opened her eyes and looked at him again. 

_"I will never willingly leave you behind, and if I do so unwillingly, I WILL find my way back to you. Un-der-stand?”_ he sounded the word out as if she needed help deciphering it and she knew it was his way of scolding her for questioning him and his ability to stay and keep her with him. 

She nodded finally, relaxing and letting herself believe. He was Five, he believed and he had never let her down before, so she allowed herself to be reassured and she believed too. 

_"Now, if you don't mind,"_ he started, letting go of her chin and turning his body so he could comfortably stretch back out along the blanket and lay his head back in her lap. _"I'm exhausted. He put me through Hell today and all I really want is to lay here and listen to you read."_ Smiling, she resumed running her fingers through his hair causing him to groan appreciatively. She picked the book back up and started to read. ** _In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit. Not a nasty, dirty, wet hole, filled with the ends of worms and an oozy smell, nor yet a dry, bare, sandy hole with nothing in it to sit down on or to eat: it was a hobbit-hole, and that means comfort….._**

Present time

Why is it that, whenever you wish for something to be over, time seems to slow to a crawl. But the instant you start dreading it, it flies by like a bat straight out of Hell, leaving you dazed and confused, wondering what happened and where it all went. Thus was the predicament Vanya seemed to find herself in as she looked at the ancient clock on the wall and sighed. 

There really was no more putting it off now. She had managed to stretch her lunch out an extra 20 minutes, by dawdling over her sandwich until the poor thing sagged pathetically in the middle, its insides long since lost to the ravages of time as they landed in her plate with a wet plop. By now, she was sure Ben was already in the library waiting and getting ready to, as he put it earlier “come get her.” Placing the unfortunate remains back on her plate to join its sad brethren, she stood up with an irritated murmur and began to make her way out of the kitchen and down the hall to said library.

If it had been any other day, she would have been hurrying there in excitement, a spring in her step as she went, eager to lose herself in a book and escape the world for the day. As it was, it wasn't any other day. It was this day and dragging her feet would only get her so far. 

Coming upon the ancient double doors, she squared her shoulders, reached for the knob, opened it and slipped inside. She blinked at the sudden lighting change and wasn't surprised when she found Ben already waiting for her at one of the tables.

“Oh good,” he said hurrying towards her. “I was afraid I really was going to have to come get you.”

“No," she sighed, "I was coming I just…My sandwich went soggy." she said pathetically as if that explained everything. "My sandwich went soggy and everything is changing, it’s inevitable now and I know that but this is the start of it all. And I know it's real now but this is going to make it really real and he’s not here, he’s going to miss it all and I just-"

“It’s all changing too fast.“ he interrupted, explaining it for her.

“Exactly, it’s all changing too fast and I guess I was stalling a bit.” 

“Well, it’s understandable,” he said, grabbing her hand and leading her back to the stairwell. “Did you get the bottle?”

“Yeah but I don't think it's going to be too much of a help.” She pulled the bottle out and handed it to him. 

“It doesn't have a name on it. Just says for me to take it twice daily or when needed.”

“That’s not…..Vanya that’s not legal. If it's the original bottle, it should have a drug name on it.”

“Well, it’s the one mom gave me. Before Five threw a fit, she just kind of dolled them out.”

“Five threw a fit?” Ben asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Yeah,” she sighed. “He told me we needed to know what I was taking, so he could get it for me when we left. I asked Mom, made this whole big speech about how I was old and responsible enough to be remembering to take my own medicine now. Mom finally got around to giving me the bottle about a week after he was gone.”

“Yeah, well I'm just glad you kept some of the pills. Maybe they can use that to find out what it is.”

She turned and started to make her way to the stairs but he stopped her. 

“Not that way,” he told her with a slightly guilty look. Taking her hand, he pulled her to a small room just off the side of the library, closed the door and walked towards the back, trailing his fingers on the wall and counting under his breath until he seemed to find what he was looking for and pushed at a certain place. 

“Allison showed us this a while back, when she had a spontaneous craving for donuts.” He answered the unspoken question as the wall parted and swung backward like a door. 

“Said she and Luther found it, when they were looking around. To tell you the truth, I wouldn't be surprised if it turns out, she rumored the memory away from Pogo and Dad.” The guilt was heavy in his eyes as he entered the dark hallway and held his hand out for her. 

“Did...did Five know?” she asked in a tiny voice as she reached out grabbed his hand and followed him into the passageway. Ben snorted.

“You know better than that. Five didn't need passageways to get where he wanted to go and if, by some miracle he did, you would have been the first he told. Besides, you know how pissed Allison was when he refused to teleport anywhere with her. She knew he was taking you on side-alongs...We all did. She threatened to rumor the memory from our minds, if we told either of you. I think it was her way of punishing him. She’s our sister and I love her...but, Allison has a vicious streak most Dictators would envy.”

Everything she had ever read about secret passageways was obviously a lie. They had led her to believe that it should be dark and gloomy and made of rock with spiderwebs on every corner. It was supposed to smell like mildew and be filled with all kinds of heinous bugs just waiting to drop down and bite you. This place was anything but. It was light airy and most of all clean. There were no spider webs and while it did turn to rock midway through it smelled of Febreze??? 

She bit her lip as they reached the end of it and he opened another impossible to find door, only for them to be met with bright sunshine and speeding cars. 

“We’re maybe five minutes away from the gates,” He told her as he helped her step out and then closed the door behind them. It seemed to melt into the rock before it and if she didn't know what to look for, she would have had no idea it was even there. 

“Best I can figure, is the original owner was just as crazy paranoid as Dad and built himself an escape route.” He started pulling her toward where they could see the cars rushing by and she stumbled a bit. 

“Hey, you okay?” he asked, reaching out and grabbing her elbow to help steady her. 

“Yeah, just a little overwhelmed. I think this is the first time I’ve ever really been out without a driver or something. You know how Dad is about me being seen.”

Ben cursed then sighed when she shot him a worried glance. 

“Don’t worry,” he soothed “I'm just realizing how truly fucked up we are. I mean, I knew it before but this is all really slamming it home.”

Vanya grimaced and reached out to squeeze the hand resting on her elbow.

"I'm... I'm sorry." She whispered. 

"Hey no, it's not your fault. It's Dad's. He wants Super Heroes and he doesn't care how badly he has to fuck us up to get them." He sighed again, then began to lead her back to the road. 

"Now if I'm remembering right, there should be a bus stop around here somewhere. We'll follow the road until we find it, then we'll catch the one downtown and walk from there."

"Buses take money Ben,” she told him in a worried voice. “Last time I checked, we didn't have any."

"Bold of you to assume we don’t,” he answered, tweaking her nose “but that's where you would be wrong. Remember that mission Dad sent us on last week?” She nodded wearily and he smirked.

“Welllllll,” he started drawing out the L “...the criminals didn't hide the money they'd stolen so well, annnnnd I may have absconded with some of it.”

“BEN!” she demanded, horrified. “You can't just...what if the police had seen you? Worse, what if Dad had seen you?”

“Well they didn't,” he started a bit defensively. “And it turns out, we do need it so…”

She sighed and bit her lip. “I know, I just ...be careful and don't get caught. He wouldn't...have any mercy if he found out about it.” 

“I know.” he softened “But give me some credit, V. I'm smart enough to not get caught. Be glad.” he said, pulling her across and down the road as they looked for the bus stop. At least this way we’re not walking too far. 

It would take them another five minutes to actually find the stop and then another twenty, and a lot of questions to realize how to use it. Dad taught them how to escape burning buildings and save hostages but God forbid he actually teach them anything that would give them independence from him. Knowing how to use the bus system and get around on their own definitely equaled that. Thank goodness there was an oblivious but nice old lady there to help them. Anyone else would have noticed the uniform and…..well, Ben didn't want to think about it. He glanced to his left at Vanya’s blazer and swore at the Umbrella Academy patch showing proudly from her left breast pocket. Then started taking his own off as fast as he could. 

“V….” he said, nudging her shoulder and pulling her from staring numbly out the window.

“Vanya, the jackets. They shout Umbrella Academy and we have to…" He didn't have to tell her twice, in fact, he didn't even get to finish his sentence before she was already pulling hers off.

It was as if someone had poured cold water over her head and her blood had turned to ice. "Jesus Christ, how stupid….you don't think anyone saw and put together where we're from do you?" That strange curiosity/irritation from earlier this morning flooded over her again, only this time, it was tinged with what was the beginnings of concern and she absentmindedly pressed her hand against her stomach using her thumb to rub soothing circles into it.

“No," he informed her, looking at her oddly but then seeming to shrug it off. "It was just the old lady we talked to. We aren’t Allison or Luther or Hell, even Klaus. If anyone saw, they probably decided we were cosplayers and let it go." 

“Rabid fans.” she snickered and he sent her an amused smile and leaned back, relaxing into the seat, the incriminating jackets resting between them. 

She leaned her head against the window and watched the scenery, and cars passing by. She began to make up silly stories about where they were going and what they were doing, to keep herself entertained, while still rubbing those soothing circles into her stomach. 

When the bus finally stopped, she was more than ready to get off. She shivered a bit as they exited it, bringing her arms up so she was hugging herself, the November wind brisk on her skin without her blazer for protection. 

“Come on,” Ben told her, placing his hand on her shoulder and he positioned the jackets over his arm, making sure the logos were hidden and led her down the sidewalk, where the double doors of the clinic stood waiting. 

Anxiety flooded her as he opened them for her and it took everything she had to muster the courage to take the first steps and walk into the building. Later, when she was safe at home, curled up warm in her bed, she would wonder where she had managed to muster up the strength and courage to do it, but for now, it was enough that she had.

The warm air cocooned and surround her, driving away the November chill and she sighed in slight relief. 

It was ...not what she had been expecting. The few times she'd been forced to go to the infirmary back home had been drab compared to this. The one back home was full of hospital beds, terrifying equipment and drab wallpaper. The room they had just walked into had a totally different feel. The walls were a stark white and they were lined with cushioned chairs There were tables strategically set out in their midst, full of magazines and reading material that even a day ago Vanya would have given her left arm for. The corner seemed to be a children's center, because it was full of cushions and coloring books and different playsets that were obviously there to keep young minds occupied. 

Ben laid his hand on her shoulder again and then started to lead her to the receptionist at the front of the room but stopped when he realized there was already an old man there arguing with her. 

“Listen, I don't really care about your rules or what you think you know. Anything she wants or needs, you’ll give it to her. I don't care if she tells you she's hungry and she wants peanut butter. YOU WILL get it. Un-der-stand?” 

“Sir, there are rules.” she tried to argue. “I can't just…” 

“DO YOU UNDERSTAND?” he looked at her name tag and made a tsking sound that immediately transported Vanya back to a roof full of sunshine, the scent of apple blossoms dancing in the air and a warm head resting in her lap. She almost sobbed. 

“Listen to me _Allison,”_ he said the name as if it were a curse. “You do not want me coming back here again, do you?” 

“No, sir.” she answered truthfully in a shaky voice.

“And your superiors definitely don't want my very _generous_ donations to dry up. So here’s what's going to happen. When she comes in here, you’re going to give her anything and everything she asks for. And you’re not going to charge her a dime for any of it.” He reached into the breast pocket of his suit and pulled out a checkbook.

“I'm trusting you here, Allison.” He said, handing her a check that was obviously blank. “Don’t make me regret it.” 

“Yes sir,” she answered as he moved away from the desk, putting his hat back on and straightening his tie, there was a woosh of what sounded like sliding metal and he cursed. 

“Anything she needs,” he stressed again, turning back to the desk. “And don’t think I won’t find out about it, if you try to be smart and pocket the money for yourself. I _will_ find you. And you really don't want that to happen.” He turned back away from the reception desk and started to make his way toward the door.

Ben, was too busy trying to figure out what had hurt and sent Vanya to the point of crying, to really notice him but Vanya was still able to see him. She watched as the old man looked up, his blue eyes startled as he stumbled a bit when he caught sight of them.

Vanya knew those eyes.

For just a second, his face was a mask of pure misery. Those blue eyes, that threatened to drown her, were filled with unbearable loneliness an old longing and pain, that seemed to go on forever. It made her palm itch to reach out, to soothe, to comfort, but then he seemed to shake himself, control returning as his face closed off and he started toward the door again.

"Excuse me." he said, obviously keeping his head down as he passed them. Vanya whimpered, not being able to believe what all of her senses were clearly screaming at her and she watched as he disappeared out of the door and her life as quickly as he’d entered it.

 _Don't go!_ her heart screamed as her mind rooted itself in disbelief. _Please, don't go, don’t leave me here alone again!!_

“Vanya, what's wrong, what happened?” 

By now, the tears were falling down her face in earnest and poor Ben had no idea what was happening. 

“I..don’t know....that old man....Ben, he…I don't know, he just…”

"What Vanya, did he do something?" Ben wasn't sure how he could have managed to do something without him knowing, while he was standing right here. But he'd seen stranger things in his short life and Vanya was his sister and she was obviously upset, if that man had caused it well...

Thunder boomed outside the clinic, it's echoes loud enough to be heard through the closed doors and windows. It took Ben a moment to notice how strange it was that a storm had somehow managed to blow up so quickly in the fall air. As it was though, he had bigger fish to fry, so he shrugged it off, chalked it up to global warming and went back to trying to find out what was wrong with his sister.

“It's not possible. And he didnt do anything to me. But I….I think it…..I could have sworn it was Five.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Do you think Im evil yet? XD


	5. Bang bang, He Shot Me Down

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I Still own NOTHING!!! *Runs off into the woods with her arms above her head waving in the air like a crazy person.*

George Gates, much to his extreme disappointment, was a loser of the highest caliber. Oh, it hadn’t always been that way. Once upon a time, he’d started off as a young intrepid reporter, who was full of both promise and potential. People really believed he was going places. His father was convinced he was going to be the next Carl Bernstein or Bob Woodward and most of his professors at the elitist university he'd attended agreed. He'd flown through all his courses with ease and aced every test that had ever been placed in front of him.

For a while, it seemed he could do no wrong. He was the golden boy. Like Midas before him, everything he touched turned to gold. A year or so after college, he’d landed his dream job as a reporter and rising star for the Washington Post, _“Just like Carl Bernstein”_ his Dad had exclaimed, eyes shining and chest puffed out with pride. He was the darling of the journalistic world and he could do no wrong. 

Then the Umbrella Academy debuted. Six kids with superpowers raised by an eccentric old man to fight crime? What kind of person, let alone parent, does that? Why wasn't anyone else questioning this? George knew a rat when he saw one and Sir Reginald Hargreevess was most definitely a rat. He immediately dropped everything and began to dig; pulling up old records, census papers, and police reports. Basically, anything he could find on the old bastard. 

That was mistake number one. 

What he discovered was impossible, and Hargreeves had to be lying because there were no birth certificates or adoption papers for any of the children, and if the records and dusty old newspaper clippings he’d found along with the faded photograph were to be believed, the man was pushing a hundred and twenty. Seriously why wasn't _anyone_ questioning _any_ of this? There were missing persons reports filed for at least three Nannies who'd just up and disappeared each one right after the other. All after going to work for one Sir Reginald Hargreeves. For God's sakes. The police weren't even looking into them anymore. Something was wrong with the man. How was it no one else was able to see it?

Mistake number two was when he’d gone to his boss and begged to be allowed to do the first interview with the Academy. It hadn’t been too hard to get her to agree, he was after all the golden boy and poor Angie hadn’t really stood a chance when he’d turned and batted his hazel eyes at her. The fact that they’d been sleeping together for the past six months and his interest (and eyes) had started to wander to younger and greener fields had left her desperate for his attention and all it took was some pretty words, a well-placed compliment with the promise of dinner, and just like that George had found himself on a plane to New York in the possession of an assignment that should have gone to a much older and more seasoned reporter. 

His third and final mistake had been when he decided to confront the old man on his own turf. The things he’d seen inside that house ...to this day, George still had nightmares about it. He’d believed the man to be a crazy old kook who liked to make up stories that had probably snatched six children killed several nannies and used his money to smooth things over with their families. He’d never even dreamed what the real truth actually was. He _NEVER_ should have gone back to that house and he _NEVER_ should have poked around where he didn't belong.

At first, everything was fine. A blond woman with a wide plastic smile had met him at the door and invited him inside. He'd been taken to the main sitting room and told to wait until she returned with both Hargreeves and the children. He’d asked all the normal fluffy feel-good questions that were to be expected for a general fluff piece. What’s your favorite color? What’s your favorite food? What's it like to have powers? Then he'd ask them what they wanted to be when they grew up and it was like their brains had short-circuited and they'd hit a wall. The poor kids had no answer for him. Oh, they knew what they were going to be. What they had been told they were supposed to be. What they actually wanted to be was a whole other kettle of fish that they simply had no answer for and George had never felt so sorry for anyone in his entire life. Hargreeves gestured to the blond with the plastic smile from earlier and she hurried the children from the room. 

“Now that that’s out of the way, I think it would be best to discuss what it is you will and won't be printing. As per the agreement with your paper, I expect to have your finished story in my possession before your flight back on Monday.” 

“I’m sorry what?” Geroge asked in stunned disbelief. This was preposterous. His paper never would have agreed to this nonsense. The Washington Posts reputation was unparalleled their standards and ethics were too high there was no way….

“I donate a hefty sum of money to your paper each month, Mr.Gates. My children are innocents and must be protected. They are the hope of the future. I will not have anyone, let alone some story peddler, do even an ounce of damage to their credit or good names. Now as I said before, I expect to see your finished story in my possession, in time enough for me to approve it, before you leave on Monday.”

_Money?_ The Great Washington Post, the breakers of Watergate, the paper his father had raised him to believe was a beacon of truth in a world full of lies ...Had rolled over for _MONEY?!!!_ All of George's delusions crumpled in seconds. 

"Oh, you'll have your story, Mr. Hargreeves," George promised seething. "You'll have it in spades."

"It's Sir.” the man corrected.

"What?!" George asked in disbelief.

"My title. It's Sir Reginald Hargreeves."

"Oh right," George said in an offhanded flippant manner, meant to mask the fact that he was still reeling on the inside. "I'll be sure to remember it for next time."

"See that you do."

If George had just let it go...given Hargreeves the fluff piece he wanted, everything would have been fine and ended there. Unfortunately, he hadn't. He could hear his Dad's voice in his mind, telling him over and over again about journalistic integrity. How the pen was mightier than the sword and telling him all the stories he’d grown up on; about great reporters and all the heroic things they’d done for the people. So George made a plan.

Now, when he was looking back on everything with a rational and clear mind, he would be the first to admit it was a very _dumb_ plan. But what you have to understand is that he was young and he'd yet to experience failure. So why would this time be any different? He left the mausoleum Hargreeves had the nerve to call home, returned back to his hotel room and wrote two versions of the same story. The first was the happy go lucky fluff piece Hargrevees and his bosses expected. The second, the one he would send up for print, included all of his observations on the kids, their military like responses, lack of papers and all of his research. Now all he needed was some kind of photographic evidence. 

With that done, George went to the first major shopping chain he could find and then “borrowed” his company card to buy the best camera on the market. Armed with the folly of youth and his new camera, he made his way back to the mansion and began to look for a way to enter. He’d circled around the massive structure several times before he found it. It was a tree just off to the side by a window and towards the back. Swallowing, George managed to somehow screw up his courage and climb it. When he was at the point closest to the window he cupped his hands around his eyes and peered in, it was obviously a tiny bedroom, no bigger than a closet, with just enough space for the user to have both a desk and a bed. Why would…George had been over the schematics of this place with a fine tooth comb, this room was supposed to be half of another one. Someone had deliberately come in and built a wall ...to section one of the bedrooms off. Shaking his head in disbelief, George tried raising the window and was surprised when it easily slid up. He climbed in, then moved to the door, pressed his ear to it and listened. When he was sure no one was waiting to ambush him outside in the hallway, he carefully opened the door and slipped through.

Making his way down the stairs on silent feet, he kept to the shadows not really knowing what he was looking for but figuring he’d know it when he found it. He stopped at the end of the stairs, across from the dining hall, pulling further back into the shadows, where he was surprised to realize they were having dinner. The room was silent, save for the scraping of utensils against plates and an ancient voice droning on and on about campfires in the background. 

This was not what kids were supposed to do. He knew from his own experiences growing up in a house with two slightly older sisters and a very annoying younger brother. They should be laughing, joking, teasing each other and having a good time. These poor kids were as silent as a grave and it was unnatural. What kind of man was Reginald Hargreeves, that he was able to scare six ten-year-olds into complete silence? He pulled his camera up, making sure the flash was off and snapped a few pictures as he shifted a tiny bit so he could get a better angle and see more of the table and froze. There was a seventh child.

A tiny girl sat at the other end of the table. The high wingback chair emphasizing her small and petite frame dwarfing her with its size. While her siblings tossed looks and smiles freely back and forth between each other, she mostly kept her sad eyes to her plate, only smiling when the boy to her left, (the arrogant teleporter George’s mind supplied) reached out and tugged on a stray lock of her brown hair. Hargreeves had a seventh child. He had a seventh child and he was hiding her from the public. But why? Someone's spoon clattered against their plate and George shook himself, realizing what a precarious position he was in. There would be time to puzzle this all out later. Right now, he needed to keep looking for his smoking gun, so he took several pictures, focusing mostly on the girl before he moved back further into the shadows and made his way deeper into the house. Still looking for that one picture that would be his irrefutable proof and make his story he moved further into another room and then nearly proceeded to have a heart attack. It was a monkey…..It was a god damn monkey and he was in a fucking business suit. He was...well he was walking upright like a man. And If that wasn't enough to scar him for life, watching as he opened his mouth and actually spoke to the Nanny with the plastic smile, was.

George raised his camera to his eyes and snapped several more pictures, having to force his arms to be steady. The monkey said something he couldn't hear and the woman proceeded to turn her head a startling one hundred and eighty degrees, that same plastic smile in place and poor George nearly swallowed his own tongue. Thank god his camera had a neck strap because if it didn't, he would have dropped it and given himself away. Biting his lip and cursing himself for seven kinds of fool, he brought his camera back up to his eye and took several more shots, only to freeze in place when the woman winked at him and the monkey began to shout. 

Throwing caution to the wind, George dropped his camera back to his chest and began to sprint back the way he’d come, down the halls and back up the stairs to the tiny bedroom. He didn't know if anyone had managed to follow him in his mad dash, only thinking about getting away. He threw the door open only to find the little girl sitting on the bed. She looked up at him with wide, frightened eyes. 

“Please, don't scream,” he begged her.” I'm not going to hurt you. I just...I came in here by accident and I..well I need to get out quick.” 

Something in his expression must have gotten through to her, because she opened her mouth to say something when there was a brilliant flash of blue light and the smell of ozone filled the air. 

“Anya, Pogo says there's an intruder we’re supposed to….." The teleporter trailed off, his eyes hardening into twin glacial chips of blue ice that screamed murder and protectiveness, he teleported again so the girl was behind him then walked her backward into a corner, his eyes never leaving George so he could cover her fully.

_“BEN!!! DIEGO!!! LUTHER!!! HE’S IN HERE!! HE'S IN VANYA’S ROOM!!!”_ George cursed and sprinted for the window. The blue-eyed little demon was obviously too afraid for the girl to stop covering her, so he was able to make it up, out the opening and into the tree before the bedroom door burst from its hinges, leaving splinters flying through the air. 

_“LUTHER, YOU IDIOT!!”_ he could hear the teleporter scream _“YOU COULD HAVE HIT HER!!”_  
Ignoring the chaos going on behind him, he began to climb down as fast as he could. Several knives flew by his face, coming just inches from hitting him, landing with sickening thuds in the bark. George, fearing for his life, made another stupid decision in what was to be the theme for the night, let go and jumped the rest of the way down. _Jesus Christ, that hurt,_ he mentally whined as he found himself flat on his face in the dirt. 

Knowing there was no time, he pushed himself up from the ground, ignored the pain and made a sort of hobbled mad dash for the gates. He could still hear the chaos and yelling in the background as he sprinted past them and made it to the rental. 

Desperately, he yanked the door open, forced the key into the ignition started the damn thing and floored the gas. It was a miracle that he somehow managed not to crash, as he sped out into the legendary New York traffic. The drive back to the hotel was a blur and he made several desperate calls to Angie, praying she would answer, only for it to go straight to voicemail. 

“Ange, please, if you're there, you have to pick up. I've found something. It's big. Hargreeves isn't what we think he is, he's….” he cursed as his tires screeched and he swerved in traffic, barely missing being slammed into by a cabbie, that had no problem raising his hand out the window and flipping him off. “...look Ange, just call me back when you get this. It's really important.” He slammed the end call button on his phone and tossed it into the passenger seat, cursing all the way back to the hotel. 

He raced back into his room, slammed the door and locked it firmly behind him. Feeling like he could breathe now, for the first time since plastic smile woman had winked at him, he flopped down bonelessly on a chair, picked up his phone and tried calling Angie again. Just like before, it went straight to voicemail and he sighed.

Jesus Christ, had that really just happened…..Had he really just ...He put his head in his hands and took deep breaths until he felt like he was in control again. What the fuck, man? Just, what the fuck? Had he really just broken into that crazy old bastards house? Had he really just broken into the house of a man, that he was pretty sure was a killer, only to find out not only was he murdering nannies, he was fucking Frankenstein too? That woman… George gulped, she wasn't _human..._ and the monkey…..Dear God, what was Hargreeves doing? What the fuck had he done to those poor kids? They had to get their powers from somewhere. Humans weren't just born with powers...No matter what the man said. With all he’d seen tonight…..Well, it was looking more and more likely they didn't just accidentally turn up with them. George was willing to bet they’d been experimented on. Dear God, why was no one else questioning this? How had he been allowed to get this far?

George stumbled over to the hotel's mini bar, pulled out all the scotch he could find, then swiftly downed one. He quickly downed another, then thought about drinking a third but if Angie called he needed to be clear headed enough to explain to her what he’d seen. What he had pictures of. He ….A knock sounded on the door and he froze. 

Petrified, he turned his head toward the door then looked at his watch. It was 11 at night, why would anyone be knocking on his door...It had to be…. He gulped and decided to ignore it, hoping whoever it was would get the point and go away.

“Mr. Gates?" a voice called through the door. "Its room service, we’ve brought the dinner that was ordered…”

“I didn’t order any dinner." he told them, voice trembling "I didnt…..”

“No sir, you didn't. But someone called and ordered it for you. An Angela Carmichael?”

“Ange?” Angie called and had room service sent up to him? Why would she…

“Yes sir, there's a card here…”

“What does it say?” he asked in a suspicious voice. 

“Congratulations on your first big assignment, I look forward to…." the attendant cleared his throat. "Well sir, it's very explicit and I'm afraid I don't feel comfortable reading it out loud."

George snorted, it was definitely Ange alright. She had a mouth on her when she wanted to and it was part of the reason he’d started things up with her. 

He deftly unlocked the door, removed the chain and opened it, only to try to desperately close it when he realized who was on the other side. It was the driver, Abhijat, The middle eastern bodyguard who drove Hargreeves everywhere, along with Hargreeves himself and…..

"Now Mr. Gates," Hargreves said, while following his bodyguard inside. "I think we have some things to discuss. Number three…" He gestured and the only known female of the umbrella academy stepped forward, her pigtails bouncing as she stopped in front of George. 

“I heard a rumor….” And then the door closed ominously behind them.

George's life was forever changed after that night. He went from golden boy to laughing stock in seconds flat. Where before he could do no wrong, the only thing he seemed to be able to do now was wrong. Everything he tried, everything he put his hand to, Hell everything he even looked at seemed to be cursed and doomed to failure. 

First, he lost his job at the paper. Then his friends, and finally Angie had left too, she had enough of him and his “Crazy Stories”. After that, he bounced from trashy tabloid to trashy tabloid, stalking celebrities for photos, peddling lies and slander and slinging mud with the best of them. 

Oh, he’d tried to tell people what he’d seen, what he knew the old Bastard was doing. But every time he’d opened his mouth to attempt to voice it, the very ability to speak left him. Frustrated beyond belief, he’d tried to write it all out, only to discover that too was beyond him now. Whenever the name Hargreeves came to his mind, his fingers lost the ability to hold a pen and when he would sit at a computer, his ability to type simply disappeared.

Hargreeves had well and truly destroyed his life and all it had taken were the words of a little girl who probably didn't even know what she was doing. 

For six years, George had existed in this new Hell. He wound up vacating his apartment in DC and moving to a slum he could barely afford in New York, desperate to find anything that he could use against Hargreeves. Anything that would give him the ability to destroy him. It went beyond doing what was right now. It was personal. George wanted revenge, he wanted Hargreeves to hurt, and to suffer the same way he was suffering. And he didn't care how or what he had to do to accomplish it. That meant destroying everything that was important to the old man. Unfortunately, as far as he could tell, the Umbrella Academy was the only thing he seemed to care about and while he felt sorry for those kids…..well, at this point there wasn't much George was above doing these days.

So on that fateful November afternoon, when the tip line at his newest job (another trashy tabloid in a long line of trashy tabloids) had gotten the call from the excited old woman, swearing she’d seen members of the Umbrella Academy at a bus stop, asking for help and directions on how to get to the nearest Planned Parenthood, George couldn't get there fast enough...

He practically flew from the sad excuse of a Newsroom, straight to his car, careening it out and into the New York traffic, desperate to beat the busses. He made it with time to spare. George parked his car in the alley across the street from the clinic, then got out and pulled his camera to his face, searching for the best angle he could find. He lined up his sights, using the random people coming in and out of the clinic, focusing and unfocusing on their forms until it was just right. An old man in a suit walked up to the double doors and George used his slight frame to line the sights up then froze, as he turned. Twin glacial chips of blue ice seemed to look right at him, his frown deepening and George very nearly hyperventilated as he flashed back to that tiny bedroom, the teleporter standing defiantly in front of him, desperate to protect the small girl behind him. He gulped and lowered his camera...it wasn't possible. The things his mind was telling him …. It just wasn't possible. This guy had to be pushing sixty, The Kid would only be about sixteen right now, there was no way. Even Hargreeves, as fucked up as he was, couldn't control time.

George shrugged, the fear and uneasiness off as the old man seemed to clutch what had to be a book, desperately in his right hand, turned and then continued on his way inside. The bus could be here any moment and if there was to be any hope at all, he would need clear pictures of their faces and …. This was the first lead he’d had in six years. He wasn't expecting much but he couldn't afford to screw it up.

Suddenly, there was the mechanical hiss of breaks as the bus pulled up to its stop and George waited with baited breath as the passengers disembarked. The first was an older couple, the man stepping off the bus first and holding out his hand to help the female and make sure she didn’t slip.

The next was a pair of old ladies, who were laughing and giggling about something, leaning on each other as they stepped down off the bus and onto the pavement.

Several teenagers with wild hair and school backpacks descended next and George was ready to give up hope when he saw her…

She was just as delicate and petite as he remembered. It was her!! The seventh child. Oh she’d grown and her hair was longer but it was definitely her. She descended the bus steps, careful of where she placed her foot and then brought her arms up in a kind of self hug, obviously trying to ward off the chill. He watched as the Horror, of all people (as the public called him) followed after her then placed his hand on her shoulder and began to lead her down the sidewalk.

Cursing, George lifted his camera and then started taking pictures like mad. He made sure to get several of the Horror’s face with the name of the clinic prominent in the background. Excitement bloomed inside of him. He could see the headlines now. _Member of the prestigious Umbrella Academy gets an unknown seventh member pregnant._ He watched and snapped more pictures as the Horror walked up to the double doors and held them open for her. Oh, this was perfect. It couldn't have gone any better if he’d planned it. George giggled crazily as he settled back into the shadows of the alleyway, ready to wait all day for them to come back out, if he had to.   
Heh, perfect, perfect, his mind chanted, and he couldn’t hold back his excitement. He thrust a fist up in triumph. “This is going to be glorious.” He exclaimed in an excited whisper. Finally, finally he would be able to prove what he'd been trying to tell people for six years. He wouldn't even have to say anything. The pictures would tell the story for him. For the first time, since that little girl with pigtails walked into his hotel room and Hargreeves had the driver take his camera, George had hope.

He laughed, feeling a weight lift off his shoulders. 

“Take that, Hargreeves!” he cackled, quite madly, he stabbed at the air, pointing at nothing _“I’ll have proof now,”_ he ranted internally, pointing at himself, _“I’ll have proof of the seventh child and armed with these pictures, someone would have to listen. Someone would listen and then they would start digging and once they did that, they would find the reports on the missing Nannies and put stuff together. First, the old man would lose his credibility and his money then his school.”_

And just like that, everything that mattered to the old bastard would be gone. Gone like dust in the wind and just like George, his life would be meaningless. He laughed again and closed his eyes, leaned back on his hands and let himself slip into a mad daydream. He was just at the part where the police were locking Hargreeves up, in the deepest darkest prison cell to have ever existed, when he heard an ominous metallic thunk slice through the air. Poor George didn't even have time to realize he was dead.   
*************************************************************************************************************

Five sighed, snapped the safety back on the 22 and slid it back into its holster. He looked at the body cooling on the ground before him and scoffed. He was lucky. So very, very lucky that Five couldn't afford to bring attention to himself or anything going on in this time period. Otherwise, he would have made it painful. He would have taken the man and tortured him for days on end. He would have brought him to within an inch of death, let him think it was finally going to end and then started all over again. The Commission was very thorough in its training. Psychological and otherwise. 

The man had threatened Vanya...twice. He’d had the nerve to threaten _his_ family. Oh, he remembered perfectly well who he was. It had been 48 years but he still remembered the fear he felt race through his body when he’d teleported to Vanya’s room, ready to take her back to safety, only to find him looming over her threateningly. It was the first time he’d realized exactly how vulnerable she was, and in turn just how vulnerable he was because of it. The second she’d been threatened, he’d been powerless to do anything but stand in front of her and use his body as a shield to protect her.

He sneered again and ground his heel into the camera around it’s (always an IT, never a person) neck and started searching the pockets for anything threatening or anything that could lead back to his family. Briefly, he wondered what this...thing had done, that had drawn the eyes of the Handler... of the Commission in general really, and made him worthy of assassination. 

Finding nothing, he moved and dragged the body back further into the shadows, it wouldn't do for it to be found too soon. His instructions had been clear, he was to eliminate the target and then get ready for extraction. 

He looked back at the clinic, Vanya was in there. Vanya was in there, right now and she was finding out about their...their family. He would give his right arm to be in there with her. Ever since he’d found Klaus in the sixties (and wasn't that a trip) he’d known where he wanted...where he ached to be. Where he couldn't be. 

She’d been so beautiful. Just the same as she’d been that night when they’d…..Five lived for that night. For 44 years, he’d kept the memory close to his heart, pulling it down from the library in his mind, dusting it off and reliving it daily. Then he’d found her book. It had given him both hope and destroyed him. Vanya had a family. She’d moved on, and while he tried to be happy for her, he was devastated. If he had just listened to her like she’d asked, he’d be with her right now, it would have been his child she had carried, and they would both have been happy.

When he’d found Klaus, or rather Klaus had found him, he was on his last legs. He’d been with the Commission for about three years by then, and he could literally feel his humanity slipping away from him with each hit. He was sitting on the grass in some godforsaken jungle, four bodies cooling to his left as he stared at his gun, wondering if it would be worth it to just put a bullet in his brain and end it all. The Commission was never going to let him go. He was beginning to despair of his calculations and without the answer, the apocalypse was guaranteed and his Family was as good as dead. Vanya ... even if by some miracle she’d managed to survive, well, she had her own family by now and he wasn't a part of it. The book and it's pictures had been more than enough proof of that. 

He’d placed the gun up to his temple, pulled the hammer back and breathed deep. It would be better this way he…..

“Don't you fucking dare, you unbelievable bastard! You told me when I found you, you’d be in a mood but I had no idea you were fucking suicidal!”

A hand came out of nowhere and deftly slapped the gun from his grasp. He opened his eyes, ready to snap the neck of the person stupid enough to dare touch him and froze. He had to be seeing things. This wasn’t possible.

“Klaus?” He asked in disbelief, his voice trembling.

Klaus narrowed his eyes at him, the anger coming off of him in waves.

“How dare you, how fucking dare you, you…. prick…..you have no right….no right!” He reared back, making a fist and punching him square in the nose.

“You’re not leaving me with the job of telling Vanya that you…….” he shook his fist, looking down at it in disbelief then froze and gulped, raising his sleeve to wipe at his suddenly too wet eyes and runny nose. “That another one of us is dead. She wouldn't survive it this time.”

“VANYA’S HERE???” Five sat up from where he'd fallen and tried to wipe the blood from his swollen face, barely noticing the pain as the fear swarmed him. No no no no no! This was a war zone, Vanya couldn’t be here…….. she had no business…... she couldn't …..she…There was nothing but blood and death to be found here she..

“No,” Klaus assured him, softening a bit. “She’s home, back where I should be. Back where you should be. But somebody decided he needed to take a little side trip, got lost in time and now we’re all in a fucking soap opera, fighting time ninjas, trying to fix your mess…. Gimme that…” he sat down beside him in the grass then reached out and deftly plucked Vanya's book from where Five kept it hidden in his breast pocket. If anyone accused him of keeping it close to his heart...well at this point, why would anyone care.

“Klaus...why, how are you even here?”

“I told you,” he said, exasperated, opening the book to the first page and to Five’s horror, began to jot numbers down into it. “Fixing your Goddamn mess.”

Anger coursed through him and Five reached out to snatch the book back.

“NO!” Klaus said angry himself, “I found you with a fucking gun to your head, Five. A FUCKING GUN!! I had to watch Vanya when Ben…..I’m not going to do it again, do you understand? I'm not. Other You said this was important. Otherwise, I’d have used the fucking suitcase and been home by now. Shit’s hitting the fan back there and I'm here, stuck in some jungle in the sixties because you decided to go melodramatic and end it all.” 

“Here,” he practically threw the book back at him and Five grabbed and opened it. Surprised to find dates up and down the page, each corresponding to a number beside it. 

“What is this?” Five asked in puzzlement. 

“Dates.” he answered “Times and places you have to be. Other You said it was important and judging by the fact that I know several of those have to do with Vanya and ...Well you just better be there.”

“Klaus please, just tell me what's going on.”

“I can’t…..well, not everything. Other You said it was complicated and there was only so much you were ready to know. He said I couldn't tell you all of it because one, I didn't the first time and two, he knew himself well enough to know if I did, you would lose it and probably end up destroying time.”

“Other me sounds like an asshole.” 

“He has his moments,” Klaus snickered then sighed. “I wasn't kidding when I said shit was hitting the fan, Five. Dad’s dead, and it’s triggered things. Set them into motion and we….” he sighed again.

He looked at Klaus, blood still smearing his face and blue eyes lighting up in determination. 

“Tell me what you can.” he said fiercely.

And so he did. And in the process, he gave him hope again and a reason to live...Vanya's Family was his family. He had a family. Oh Christ…..He was a Dad. He was someone's Dad ...If the Commission found out…..If the Handler found out…... He started to hyperventilate.

“Five….Hey! Five, its okay, Buddy, just breathe with me.” Klaus said, grabbing his hand and placing it on his chest, “Breath with me, okay, deep breaths.” He matched his breathing to Klaus’ and slowly began to feel himself calm down. 

“It’s too late, Klaus.” he despaired, lowering his head into his hands. “I’ve missed everything...too late, I’m….” He gestured to himself weakly. “I’m old...Vanya...” 

“Stop that.” Klaus said exasperated, smacking him hard in the back of the head. “One, Vanya doesn't care how old you are so long as it's you and two…” Klaus snickered. “Trust me kid, being too old for Vanya isn’t even going to come into play for you guys.” Five gave him a suspicious look and Klaus sighed. 

“Look Five, I promise. From where I'm standing in the time period ...and what you’ve told me, it all works out. I promise, you’ve just got to be patient and trust me.”

Klaus had laughed himself silly when he’d brought up the book and told him what conclusions he’d drawn after reading it.

“The book was more about sticking it to Dad, It was a _‘haha fuck you despite everything you’ve done and tried to do I’m okay’._ You know, Five for a smart person, you really are a dumbass. Vanya's never even looked at anyone like that, but You." Five raised his hand to his chin, thinking. Now looking back on it, he liked to think he could see a little of himself in those black and white photos in her book.

He shook himself from the memories of Klaus and the 60’s and sighed. He wouldn't be able to visit this time period again for a while. The Handler herself had sent him the hit while he'd been inside the clinic, trying to wrangle the receptionist into compliance. That meant she knew he was here. He couldn't afford for her to become too interested in this time period. Vanya and his family couldn't afford it. So he'd done what he could by terrorizing the poor staff and now he'd have to hope that the money he'd managed to hide away for her would be enough.

He had expected to be long gone before she and Ben arrived but apparently Klaus and his other self had different plans. She’d been so beautiful standing there. And Ben, Oh God, Ben, it was Ben. He was standing right beside her. Five wanted to scream. He had to physically restrain himself from going to them. It hurt. It hurt so Goddamn much, to just stand there and pretend to be some stupid old man who had no idea of who they were. Klaus had been clear though. His Future self had been clear. He couldn't afford to change this part of the future. No matter how much he wanted to. No matter how tempted he was, he couldn't approach them and he couldn't talk to her again until ...dammit. He slammed his fist into the wall of the building and tried to steady his breathing again. He had to trust that she would be okay. That she'd find the envelopes. Klaus had assured him they would, but he couldn't help but worry. 

Sighing, he took one last desperate look at the clinic and then began to fiddle with the dials on the briefcase. _I’m sorry,_ Anya, he thought towards her, knowing it was foolish and there was no way she could hear him. But doing it anyway. _I'm so, so sorry. Don't give up on me. I’ll keep my promise. I’ll figure this all out and I’ll find my way back to you._ Then, he opened the case and with a giant boom of thunder, he was gone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, this chapter seriously kicked my ass. George was just supposed to be a three paragraph character, but then he demanded he wasn't a bad guy and that he get to tell you why he was the way he was. Im a little nervous about it so comments will be appreciated.


	6. When you walk away, You don’t hear me say please, oh baby don't go.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Suprise, Suprise I Still own Nothing XD

**_“It's not possible. And he didn't do anything to me. But I….I think it…..I could have sworn it was Five.”_ **

“The old man?” Ben asked incredulously.

“Yeah, he..?” Vanya stopped and gasped, raising one hand to clutch at her chest and lowering the other to grasp at her stomach as waves of grief, love and determination assaulted and passed over her. 

"I…."

**_“I’m sorry, Anya, I'm so, so sorry. Don't give up on me. I’ll keep my promise. I’ll figure this all out and I’ll find my way back to you.”_ **

Oh God, it WAS him. It was Five, she knew it now, instinctively , knew it as well and truly as she knew her own name. And…. she’d just….. let him walk away. AGAIN!! She’d let him walk right past her, and out the door without saying anything, without protesting. Desperately, she forced herself to catch her breath, then half ran, half stumbled towards the double doors as fast as she could.

"Vanya!! Vanya, wait, there's no way!!" Ben followed after her worriedly. "There is no way it could have been him that guy…." He trailed off as he exited the doors and found her standing on the sidewalk, staring and squinting at the alley way across from them.

“I heard him. I know it was him, Ben, I know it. He….”

“Vanya," he interrupted her again, sighing. "You’re tired and stressed about this visit. And you miss him. But there's no way…”

“Time travel." she threw back at him viciously. "I heard him, Ben...I know I did, and his eyes…..”

“Five was a lot of things, Vanya…..An arrogant, asshole, chief among them. But he wasn't a deserter. He loves us all, in his own way. That’s how I know it wasn't him. Well, besides the obvious...Even if the time travel screwed with him and he was...old now, there’s no way he would have left without saying anything. Especially to you. And when you think about it, you’ll realize you know that too.”

"He...he was so lonely, Ben. So lonely and so tired. And I felt it. He…..."

"Wait!" he interrupted her worriedly, "what do you mean you felt it'?"

"I mean just what I said! I felt it!! I felt what he was...feeling I guess." she saw the sceptical look he was shooting her and her temper flared. "Don't look at me like that!" she exclaimed as the wind picked up around them, blowing her hair in all directions. "I know what it sounds like but ...I ...I felt it, Ben."

Ben held his hands up passively in a move that was meant to soothe her, so he could get her back inside before the rain actually started. It was the wrong thing to do. 

"Vanya, I'm not….”

"Yes you are.” she said finally, letting the tears that had been building all day fall. "You think I'm crazy but I know it was him. I heard him and I felt it. I've been doing that a lot lately. Feeling things that don't....come from me. But this is the first time I've...known where it came from. He...was so lonely, Ben...and so full of sorrow. It hurt, he hurt so much and I couldn't help him, I just stood there and let him walk right past me.”

“I don't think you’re crazy, Vanya.” he tried again. “I think you’re tired and under a lot of stress. I think you miss Five and that's understandable. I also think it's going to start raining soon and we really need to be inside before that happens." Thunder chose that moment to boom across the sky, emphasizing his point. "Even if he was here,” she opened her mouth to argue and he kept going, raising his hand and stopping her before she could start. “And I'm not saying he was or wasn't. But even if he was here, Vanya, he's not now. You and I both know that if he doesn't want to be found, he won't be. Now can we please go back inside? It’s really cold out here.” 

Vanya looked at his earnest face with guilty eyes and nodded. 

“I know it was him, Ben.” she muttered stubbornly as she wiped her eyes and moved back towards the double doors, letting him open them for her again. 

“Anya Grace.” a nurse called out, startling them as they reentered the waiting room. They both turned in disbelief to the side door as the nurse called her name again. 

“Did you…”

“No,” Ben answered “I was worried about you..I didn't have time ...there's no way she could know.” Anya Grace was the name she'd come up with to use for this visit. Anya for obvious reasons and Grace for a character in a book she had fallen in love with a year or so ago. The fact that the nurse was calling that name now was too much of a coincidence. 

The nurse called the name again, one more time and then shook her head and smirked. “Easiest 50 bucks I’ve ever made.” she snarked at the receptionist. “I told you he was just a crazy old man with too much money, Ally. Just wait until Vicky hears she didn't show up. The best pharmaceutical expert and the best Obstetrician on two continents are here and their “patient” doesn't even exist. Mr. Alexander is going to have a lot of explaining to do when he…”

“Jen…

“Comes back here…."

“Jen..”

“Even his money and contributions won’t be able to smooth this over. He’s wasted everyone's time and……”

“Jennifer!!!” the receptionist hissed, finally getting her attention and interrupting her rant. Her eyes were wide as she swallowed and pointed behind her, watching Vanya and Ben make their way to the front.

“I’m Anya Grace." Vanya told her, biting her lip.

The nurse turned around, disbelief written all over her face. “Bullshit.” she answered.

“Jen!" the receptionist hissed again, then quietly handed her what was obviously a photocopy of a black and white photo. The nurse blanched as she looked at the photo then back to Vanya and then back to the photo again.

“I'm so sorry, Miss Grace." the nurse gushed, her tone doing a total one-eighty and becoming more respectful and slightly anxious. "You’ll have to forgive me, we weren't sure you would make it. The Doctor is in and she’ll see you as soon as you’re ready.”

The receptionist bit her lip. "We won't be telling Mr. Alexander about this, will we?” She asked in a frightened voice.

“Mr. Alexander?” Ben asked bewildered.

“Yes,” the receptionist said, "he's the one who told us you were coming, he...oh!" she said as if remembering something. "I'm suppose to give you this." She pulled out a sealed envelope addressed to Anya Grace and handed it to her. Vanya took it with shaking hands and looked at Ben for reassurance before slowly opening it. 

It was a simple piece of paper with five words on it and Vanya laughed, then fought not to cry. His handwriting hadn’t changed a bit. There, in his neat blocky letters, was his message to her, designed so she would know it was from him. 

_Anya,_

_Alexandria still awaits us._

 

She gave a slightly hysterical half laugh, half sob and all but shoved the paper at Ben. 

“Still think it wasn't him?”

Ben looked at the note, his face going from disbelief to shock. He knew that handwriting, like he knew the back of his own hand, had spent countless hours going over notes in it, disputing theories and making arguments, that either supported or disproved them. Hell, he hadn't even been subtle about it. The letter only contained five words for Christ’s Sake.

“Oh Five, what have you done?” he whispered in a despairing voice, his eyes going glassy as he continued to stare down at the letter. 

_It was him._ Somehow, until this very moment, he’d managed to convince himself that everything was going to be okay. That somehow, Five would be back and then everything would magically just….go back to normal. Yes, Vanya was pregnant and that was going to call for some major adjustments (mainly, finding a way to protect her and the baby from Dad) but girls got pregnant all the time. Didn't they? They all managed to find some semblance of normal afterword, right? So why wouldn't his family?

Oh, he’d known just like everyone, that Five was looking for a way to escape the house and that he intended to take Vanya with him. In fact, part of the reason for Allison’s jealousy-borderline hatred for Vanya was due to this fact. Where Luther was content and comfortable to stay in the box Dad had fashioned for them, Five was straining against it. He was actively working and striving to find a way out for both himself and Vanya. Naturally, Allison resented it.

Ben shook his head. None of that mattered now. Five...his brother who should only be sixteen, just like the rest of them, was God knows how old now and he was hiding from them. And Vanya….Vanya had known. By pure instinct alone, she had known. She said she had _felt it._ His powerless, ordinary baby sister had _FELT_ what he’d been feeling and...Oh God, the implications of that. Did she have powers that were choosing NOW, of all times, to manifest? Both he and Five had speculated to the fact that she just hadn’t managed to manifest yet and…. She was pregnant for Christ's sake. If Dad EVER found out, he wouldn't care about that. All he would see was a new soldier for his make-believe apocalypse and he’d have Vanya, (his sweet baby sister, who wanted nothing more than to be accepted and couldn't even stand to watch them step on bugs), out on the field so fast, their heads would spin. Or worse he would care and he’d take the baby and….

Thunder boomed outside, jolting him from his thoughts. He looked up from the letter with haunted eyes. 

“You’re right," he told her softly, knowing he couldn't deny it anymore. "It was him.” Thunder boomed again as if in answer to his statement, rattling the windows and walls and Ben winced as he heard the rain start to come down in sheets, beating against the roof with a steady tempo. Vanya made a half-strangled sound, that reminded him of a wounded animal and brought the flat of her palm up to cover her mouth as if to hold it in. 

He noticed the nurse and the receptionist watching them in blatant fascination and quickly folded the note back up slipping it back in its envelope. 

"V," he choked, reaching out and placing his hand on her shoulder and shaking it. She looked up at him with pained eyes, he was pretty sure matched his own and he cursed and pulled her into a hug.

"We’ll find him. I promise you, we will. But right now, we really need to find out what's going on with you and the baby okay? Five is…. He’s set all this up so we can. He's fixed it so it would be easier on you. We really need to find out what's going on okay?" 

She sniffed and nodded, then moved out of his hug, looked back up at the nurse and walked toward her. 

“I'm sorry," she said, trying to keep her voice steady "Family stuff. Umm..you said the Doctor was ready to see me?”

“Yeah," she cleared her throat in guilt, then seemed to remember she was a professional and started to lead Vanya towards the side door she'd appeared from. "The Doctor is back here waiting. Would your boyfriend like to come back with us? I mean, there are obviously tests he won't be able to sit in on but he might want to be there for the sonogram." 

"Oh, he's not my boyfriend, he's my brother. And..." she bit her lip and turned back to face him. "Do you want to..?"

Ben looked at her with his earnest supportive eyes...and nodded. "Only if you want me to." And he walked up to join them. 

After that, it was a whirlwind of activity she was still trying to digest. She'd been poked and prodded in every orifice she had. They'd had her urinate in a cup and had taken so much blood, she was beginning to wonder if there would be enough left in her body for both her and the baby.

They'd weighed and measured every inch of her, and when she noticed the frown on the nurse's face at the size of her waist, she'd just shook her head and laughed. "It's nothing to worry about." The nurse assured her. "You're just a little bigger than normal for three months." She patted her on the shoulder, then led her to a room where the ob-gyn, Doctor Carver, was waiting for her. She was a slight, no-nonsense woman with a British lilt and a stern face, that only softened when she realized exactly how young and nervous Vanya actually was. As unfun as all this was, it paled in comparison to the invasiveness of the pelvic exam and Pap Smear Doctor Carver assured her was routine and insisted she have, due to her lack of medical history and the extended use of her unknown medication. Which, by the way, had been whisked off to be examined by some specialist Mr. Alexander had flown in just for her, the nurse informed her with a slight tinge of jealousy in her voice.

And that was how Vanya found herself an hour later, propped up on an examination table, Ben at her shoulder as that same nurse squirted an unknown gel on her now exposed abdomen. She'd been given several bottles of water with the instructions to drink them all. Apparently, because she was only three months along, she needed a full bladder. “Wish they would have told me that before they had me pee in a cup.” she grumbled irritably as she chugged the water. Ben bit his lip and tried not to laugh. “Would have made all this so much easier.”

As bad as it sounded, it was nice to see Vanya reacting to something in a way that wasn't just sadness. For so long, he'd watched as she'd numbly stumbled through her days, only smiling when Five would poke or goad it out of her. It was as if she spent most of her life in a fog, saving her rare smiles and only surfacing for him. After he disappeared, she was swamped with sadness and worry, so it was nice to see her expressing something besides that.

“Now this might be a little cold but that's mostly the gel.” the nurse informed her in a peppy voice, that only managed to irritate Vanya more. She picked up the wand and began to move it over Vanya’s stomach.

Fear and confusion swamped Vanya the second it touched her skin. Pure, unbridled fear and her ears seemed to explode in a high-pitched, ringing sound that made her want to vomit.

Fear, Fear, Fear, wrongness, confusion, confusion, wrongness, wrongness. But over all Fear and…. please, desperation, two minds that knew nothing but comfort and warmth before now, so afraid, so full of fear, clinging to her, her own emotions that weren't hers. So much fear. It was an endless circle of feelings and the ringing in her ears and…..and...

"Ben…" she called out desperately, in a broken voice, her breath speeding up as a bubble began to build up inside of her that she didn't understand. She didn't understand any of this but somehow she instinctively knew if that bubble popped….she felt Ben grab her hand and he gasped as the fear and confusion descended upon him too.

"Jesus Christ,” he murmured, his hands starting to shake, the horrors becoming restless with excitement within him. “Get that thing off of her.” he demanded. 

"But sir, we need to measure….." 

"Please.” Vanya whimpered, fighting to keep the bubble inside of herself and desperate to soothe the tiny minds latched onto her own. “Please.” she whispered again as all the glass in the examination room began to crack and rattle. The rain that had started to taper off outside began to beat against the roof with renewed vigor and Ben realized if he didn’t do something now…. 

"I SAID GET IT OFF OF HER NOW!" 

The nurse, not happy at being yelled at, pulled the wand away from Vanya's abdomen and the ringing in her ears stopped immediately. The minds were still clinging to her and they were still so afraid. “It's okay.” she whispered soothingly as the bubble slowly began to dissipate and the glass stopped rattling around her. “It's okay, I promise.” She envisioned herself smoothing their brows, remembering the feelings of all the times Grace had smoothed her own. She sent them the feelings she remembered having felt from that and gradually she felt them loosen their holds on the forefront of her mind and settle back into the background.

"Christ." Ben whispered, still holding her hand. 

"They…” Because it was a ‘They’, there was no doubt of that now. “They were so afraid." Vanya gave a tired half laugh.

"They.” she whispered “...they. Twins.” She didn't know what she was going to do with one baby and now there were two? The nurse cleared her throat in bewilderment. 

"How did you know it was twins?” She asked in uncertainty. “I had only just caught a glimpse of the second baby, when you demanded I stop the procedure. Which, by the way, I really need to finish. I need to measure them. Make sure everything is progressing the way it should. We need to hear their heart beats and…”

Vanya whimpered again and closed her eyes as she rested her back against the bed. 

“Is it really that important that you do the sonogram?” Ben asked, interrupting her again. “We really don't need to know the gender.”

“Sir,” she scoffed, “there are a thousand reasons, and things we learn about from the sonogram. Gender is just a fringe benefit. With your sister’s lack of medical history, the unidentified medication she’s been taking all these years….added to the fact that we now know it’s a twin pregnancy. Then yes, it's important that we find out everything we can, to make sure everything is okay and progressing as it should.”

Vanya shuddered a bit but then reached out for those two, tiny minds she could feel in the back of her own now. She was immediately met with curiosity from one, and irritation from the other and she was reminded of the oatmeal incident that she'd had a few mornings ago. _So it was you who made my already disgusting oatmeal even worse, huh?_ She sent what she hoped was the equivalent of a mental poke towards them and was amused when the irritation increased in one, while wonder and curiosity came full blast from the other. It tried to imitate her mental poke with one of its own, and she held in an awe filled laugh, then began to direct her love towards them. She imagined a bubble that surrounded them and she filled it with her awe and the all encompassing love that she already felt for the both of them.

The second one seemed to bask and glow in the attention. And the first lost the irritation, and began to preen and pose as it tried to imitate it's sibling and cautiously send a mental poke back. She surrounded them with that love, then began to weave a symphony in her mind to distract them and herself from what she knew would come next.

"Do it fast." She commanded the nurse, keeping her eyes closed and her love and presence strong about them as Flight of the Bumble Bees began playing on repeat in her mind. 

"You heard her.” Ben said, feeling her squeeze his hand as the nurse shrugged and brought the wand back down to Vanya's stomach, the high pitched sound started up in her ears again and the fear started to climb but she was ready for it this time and she slowly coaxed them into ignoring it. 

_“No, no.”_ she whispered as she strengthened her mental bubble and started making the music louder. _Ignore that. I know it's scary and annoying and loud but it's not important. Listen to me, listen to mommy. Isn't the music pretty? See how it rises and falls? Speeds up and slows down? It's so much more interesting than that nasty screeching sound, isn't it?_

She made the music go faster and they seemed to be fascinated by it, enthralled even, and before she realized it, Ben was shaking her shoulder, letting her know they were done. Giving them one last mental caress, she pulled herself back to reality.

“Is everything alright?” she asked in a soft voice. “They're okay, right?”

“They’re fine. From what I’ve seen and heard, they’re both fine. Their heartbeat’s are strong and while one is slightly smaller than the other, they’re both well within acceptable sizes. I need to go show Doctor Carver now. I'm sure she’ll want to talk with you again for a bit, and then we can get your next appointment set up, get you on some prenatal vitamins and you’ll be all set and ready to go home.”

_Home._ As fucked up as it was, it sounded like heaven to Vanya right now, so she nodded and let the nurse help her up off the table and lead Ben out of the room, so she could change out of the hospital gown and back into her normal clothes. 

When she had finished getting dressed, she moved out into the hallway where both the nurse and Ben were waiting for her. “This way.” the nurse told them and started leading them down the hall in another direction. They made their way to another room, where they could hear Doctor Carver having a heated discussion.

“Surely you’re wrong, Adorian. They said her Father gave them to her. Mr. Alexander was insistent upon it. What kind of Father would give something like that to their child?” 

“Do not question me on this, Susanna.” A deep, slightly accented voice replied. “Trust me, this pill affects the blood. And you, of all people, know I am an expert on blood.”

The nurse knocked quickly and opened the door, leading them inside. Vanya hesitated, for just a second, when the blonde man came into sight. He was sitting next to Doctor Carver, just as normal as you please, tall and statuesque, his aristocratic face set in a self deprecating smile. There was something very disconcerting about him. He was old, very old. Way older than his appearance suggested, and loneliness seemed to flow off of him in waves. Vanya blanched, wondering if she should flee the room. 

“Don't do that.” He commanded her softly, his honey colored eyes locked to her own. “It's not good for you or them.” His aristocratic face set itself into a self deprecating smile and Vanya wondered again if it might not have been better for them to run. She took a deep breath, reminded herself that Five had set this whole thing up, took reassurance in Ben's solid presence behind her, then moved to one of the two empty chairs facing the two Doctors behind the desk. 

“Okay.” Doctor Carver started, “First off, I want you to know that everything looks great from what we know at this time. We still have to send off your blood and urine tests and that will take a week to get back but other than that, from what we can see, there is no reason you won't have two very healthy babies.”

Vanya let out a breath she didn't know she’d been holding, and she felt something unfold from her chest, that she’d had no idea had even been there until this moment. She could hear Ben exhale next to her, and he turned a brilliant smile on her.

“See?” he told her in a happy voice. “I told you it would be alright. I told you, once we came here and found out stuff, you’d feel better.”

She let out a shaky laugh and brought her right arm up and over her eyes, trying to hide the tears of relief that were threatening to slip down her face. 

“You did.” she said an answering smile on her face, and she dropped her arm and looked at him. “You were right.” she laughed softly. “I should listen-” A throat cleared, interrupting her and Vanya turned her eyes back to Doctor Carver, who now had a guilty look on her face. 

“Now comes the hard part.” Doctor Carver stated and Vanya's whole body locked up. “Miss Grace, this is Doctor Tsepeshu. He’s the leading expert in his field of pharmaceutical science. Mr. Alexander called him in to look at the pills you’ve been taking. I’ll let him explain.”

Vanya felt her own fear flood her body, and this time, when the two little minds touched her own with worry and curiosity, she soothed them back to the background and turned her attention back to the Doctor.

“In all my years, I’ve never seen anything like this.” He informed them. “There are things in here I can't identify yet and that's saying something. I need to do more tests but the little bit I’ve been able to identify now, it is beyond disturbing ...” He paused a moment to gather his thoughts. 

“To be perfectly honest with you, Miss Grace, those two children you’re carrying are a miracle that should not exist...you shouldn't have even been able to get pregnant. What your father has been feeding you in these pills...well, there’s no easy way to say this, it’s a well-known form of sterilization.” 

Every glass instrument, ornament, and frame on the wall in the room shattered in that second, and Vanya fought valiantly not to blackout or throw up. Ben managed to sum up all her feelings with a well placed, well-timed and very, very angry, “FUCK!!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that's the first part of the Clinic chapter. I hope you enjoyed it. I am soooooo not a Doctor so if I got something wrong....well you know why. Also as always, comments will be appreciated.


	7. Once upon a time

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Im so so sorry it took me so long to get this up. Stuff happened.

Once upon a time, Vanya believed in happy endings. Once upon a time, she believed that every human being was inherently good, they just got hurt or lost sometimes, and things happened that turned them from that goodness. Once upon a time, she had believed that if you were good and did good things, that the Universe would see and acknowledge that energy and eventually send it back to you. It was one of the many reasons Five had loved her so much. It was also one of the many reasons he feared for her. Unfortunately, as if to prove him right, the Universe decided to demonstrate just how wrong she was. In Spades.

She could literally feel those beliefs dying inside of her as she sat at that desk, her eyes blank and staring unseeingly at Doctor Tsepeshu, the shattered glass littering the floor all around them. 

“V?” Ben asked, his face tight with worry. Doctor Carver peeked out from under the desk, where she'd taken cover when all the glass had burst. _Why?_ Vanya’s mind cried _Why had Dad done this…No, not Dad, Hargreeves._ She had to remember that. Dads didn't do things like this to their children. Dads were supposed to protect you and love you and take care of you. Hargreeves had never done that for any of them. Her whole life she had only ever tried to please him. Why had he done this? What had she ever done to deserve anything like this? All she had ever wanted was a family. People who would love her unconditionally, despite the fact that she was just normal, ordinary Vanya. And Dad had tried to take that away from her. He…

“V….?” Ben asked again haltingly, he tentatively reached out, putting his trembling hand on her shoulder. She turned to look at him, with her blank face and glassy eyes and for the first time in a very long time, Ben realized he was afraid. Oh not for himself, Dad had beaten that out of him and the others along time ago, but for her.

“V, please answer me, I know it's bad but....”

“She’s likely gone into shock.” Doctor Tsepeshu informed him calmly. “Oh, do come out from under the desk Susanna, Alexander warned us this might happen. I assumed that was the reason we decided to do this in the conference room without windows.” He raised his eyebrows with derision. “Why Victoria and her staff didn’t follow instructions and have all the glass objects removed is beyond me.”

"Why?” Vanya finally asked, her tone that of a little girl that had been struck and was trying to understand why. Ben had to strain to hear her but when he did...He'd never wanted to kill anyone before. But sitting here now listening to his baby sister, who'd only ever wanted to be included and loved...For the first time in his life, Ben wanted to kill. He wanted to give the man over to the eldritch monsters he housed. To listen to them squelch and feed on the man's flesh and bones until the air was ripe with his pain and filled with his screams. 

"Why would he do this to me? I’ve always tried to do what he wanted. Even...even when it ...hurt. I don't understand. Why? What is it about me that makes him think I shouldn't even be allowed to have children in the future?”

"He's a sick old man, V. He's a sick old man and this proves it. He never should have even been allowed around us, much less to adopt us."

"Is there something wrong with me?” she asked, her voice shaking and somehow managing to go impossibly smaller. “Does he see something I can't? Am I...am I bad?"

Ben let out a low moan of sympathy and was out of his chair and by her side faster than she could blink. "You're not bad, V,” he said hugging her tightly, “you're the best of us. You're my baby sister and you're going to be a great mom. There is nothing wrong with you. He's just a sad, sick old man who wants to control everything and be relevant and he's using us to do it."

"What if he's right, Ben? What if he's right and there's something wrong with me? And I… I mess up with them?" She looked down at her stomach, splaying her fingers on top of it. “What if he's right and I'm bad and I have no business-"

"Don't you EVER say anything like that about yourself EVER again! Do you understand me?” He grabbed her shoulders and shook her a bit. “Don't you even think it. There's nothing wrong with you, V, it's him. He's sick and he's using us. It has nothing to do with whether we're bad or not. It's all about him and what he wants. It always has been."

"Your brother is right, Miss Grace.” Doctor Tsepeshu interrupted. “From what Alexander has shared with me, your Father… I've known men like him before. They want and want and want. Relevancy. Interest. Power. They want it all and they take and take until there is nothing left and even then, they are not satisfied."

"We should be calling the authorities." Doctor Carver announced as she stood up from the floor, dusted her skirt off and then primly sat back down in her chair. Ben and Vanya both looked up at her with startled, fear filled eyes and she sighed. "The man is a sadist and he's poisoning his children. We should be calling the authorities. The ONLY reason I'm not is because Alexander asked me not to. And despite his arrogance, he’s usually right."

Vanya bit her lip. “He talks to you alot then?” She asked, her voice still small, her hurt and insecurity on display for everyone to see. Doctor Tsepeshu’s eyes locked onto hers and he sighed.

“When he can.” He answered before Doctor Carver had a chance to respond and put her foot in her mouth again. “Mostly about you. He cares very much for you all. You in particular. You have no idea what he's done, what he's gone through. The strings he’s had to pull or the actions he's had to take, just so you would have a safe place to go to at this time. He loves you very much.”

It was too much. All of it. Too much. Dad was trying to “Fix her” and Five was off with the fairies, hiding from them. From her. Vanya bit her lip as she lost the battle with her eyes and big, fat tears began to roll and slip down her face. 

"Why doesn't he come home?"

"He can't.” He informed her, his honey colored eyes going soft and full of sympathy. “I don't know the specifics but I know there are reasons. And that, if he could, he would be here with you right now. I know that, when the time is right and it's safe, he fully intends to come back to you. What you need to do is make sure you and your children are healthy and there for him to come back to.”

"Now about you, Benjamin." Ben looked up startled. “How did you know my name...?” Doctor Tsepeshu waved him off as if that wasn't important. “We need a sample of your blood. We have reason to believe that Miss Grace here isn't the only one your father has been medicating. She's just the most obvious.” 

“WHAT?!” Both Vanya and Doctor Carver demanded. It was one thing for Dad to have been doing things to her. He had always shown his derision and disappointment when it had to do with her. But Ben? She was just ordinary but Ben...he had powers, surely Dad wouldn’t...

“Why am I only hearing about this now, Adorian??” Doctor Carver demanded outraged. “What, did you and Alexander just decide it wasn't something I needed to know? He brings me a patient with no medical history, who’s been on unknown meds for most of her life. Who shouldn’t be able to even get pregnant and now you’re informing me that not only is her father trying to poison her, but he's trying to poison her brother as well? And in all of this, neither of you thought ‘Hey, you know what? Maybe we should tell Susanna what's going on. What she's getting herself into.’ Because God forbid she be able to make an informed decision.”

“You forget yourself, Susanna.” Doctor Tsepeshu snapped, his eyes going cold. “You are a professional. Act it. Alexander has nothing to do with this. He might have speculated but nothing definite. I can smell the chemicals coming off the boy from here.” He sighed and turned his ancient and tired eyes on Ben.

“Has your Mother or Father given you anything new lately? Have they served you a special food or drink they don't give to the others?”

“No I don't think so I…” and then he remembered. _Oh God the Vitamins_. Ben closed his eyes, his face a mask of betrayal and pain as he remembered the first time he’d been upset and Mom had shown up. His...tenants had been acting up and...

_The mission had been bad. There was no getting around that fact. Five had been missing for about a week now, and not only were they in denial about it, they still hadn’t quite figured out how to move, where to put their feet, or how the team worked without him. Several men had decided it would be fun to hold up a daycare on the higher end of town, take the kids and demand payment from their parents. Dad had sent them all in with nothing more than a_

_“Make sure no one dies.”_

_When they had arrived, it had been pure chaos. Kids were crying. The ones old enough to walk had been herded into a corner, their younger counterparts laying in several cribs that had been shoved up against the walls beside them. The Daycare workers were on the floor, either knocked out or worse. Ben could practically feel the fear in the air around them. The innocence mixed with the carnage… and terror excited his…. tennants... and he was having a hard time keeping control. Luther gestured and they moved into the room where he had tried to talk, to reason with the men. Dad had said no casualties and... that meant they couldn't just storm in and start beating on people. Luther, for all that he may have wanted to be, wasn’t Five. He was neither a man of words nor a strategist, and it showed. It had only taken seconds for things to go south. He had tried to get the men to calm down. Tried to talk to them and negotiate. When that hadn’t worked (big surprise) he sighed and signaled to Allison. It was the wrong thing to do. All Hell broke loose. Apparently, the offenders had been watching the media and they knew who had what powers. Realizing what was about to happen when Allison opened her mouth, he wasted no time in aiming his gun at her and shooting. Allison made a keening sound of pain, stopping mid rumor, falling to the ground and clutching her shoulder. Luther screamed and Ben saw red. The last thing he remembered was that terrible note of pain coming out of his sister’s mouth and then Klaus had been there. Shaking him and yelling in his face, desperately telling him it was enough and to WAKE THE FUCK UP!! The room had been covered in blood and he…._

Even now, just thinking about it caused the monsters within him to wriggle and writhe under his skin with excitement. Ben just wanted to be sick. He kept his eyes closed, forcing his stomach not to rebel and empty itself on the desk in front of him. When he was sure he wasn't going to embarrass himself, he turned to Vanya and opened his mouth. 

“Do you remember the mission in SoHo?”

“The Daycare?” She asked solemnly, her brows pulled together in sympathy.

"Yeah,” he answered swallowing, “when it was over and we were home, I just wanted to shower and sleep. I didn't want to talk or interact with anyone. I just...I wanted to...to get it off of me and sleep. I barely remember getting through that shower and then going to my room. Mom was waiting there for me. I only remember because I was sure she'd be with Allison, she was the one that was hurt and I...was...I was just…” he swallowed again, unable to finish that sentence. 

“She wanted me to come to dinner. Tried to tell me Dad would be disappointed. I didn't care. I just wanted to sleep. She finally gave in but...she had this pill. Said it was a vitamin that it would help me calm down. That it would help them calm down and I would be able to sleep. I took it, V. I took it and she went away and I went to sleep.” 

“So they have been giving you something.” Doctor Tsepeshu confirmed more than asked. 

“Yeah.” Ben gulped again, his gaze drifting downward and his eyes squeezing shut. “They’ve been giving me stuff. Not as consistent or like they give it to-” He nodded his head at Vanya, “but...when I'm feeling down and they’re- ” He looked down at his stomach here, “restless and won’t calm down, Mom is usually there, waiting with a ‘Vitamin’ and a smile.”

Doctor Tsepeshu sighed, leaned forward, pinched the bridge of skin between his eyes for a second, "Alexander, what have you gotten us into this time?" he breathed in exasperation then looked up.

“You’re going to need a full workup.” he informed them finally. “I don't suppose there is any hope you’ve bought one of these Vitamins with you, is there?”

 

“No,” Ben said weakly, his face pale and his body shaking and hunched in on itself. “I didn't even realize they would be needed or that it was probably more than just a vitamin. So stupid.” he hissed. “I should have known. What kind of vitamin helps you calm down? God, I'm such an idiot I-"

"Ben." Vanya tried to interrupt in a soft voice.

"Can't believe I didn't question it…"

"Ben?" she tried again.

“What kind of idiot just takes a pill and doesn’t ask what's in it?”

“ME!!” Vanya cried, “Me, I'm the kind of idiot who takes something and doesn't ask what’s in it.

Dad gave them to me and for years, and I didn't question it. I just took them and kept taking them and taking them like it was smart.” 

“V,” he exclaimed, darting his eyes over to her. “I didn't mean…”

“But you did.” She muttered softly. “What kind of idiot takes a pill and doesn't ask what’s in it? I’ve been doing it my whole life. At least you’ve only been doing it for a couple months.”

“Neither of you are to blame.” Doctor Carver interjected, her eyes going soft with sympathy. “Your parents gave them to you. You are supposed to be able to trust your parents.” She placed her palms flat on the desk, groaned and then stood up. “I need to go talk to Vicky. She’s going to have kittens when she sees this mess.” She looked around the room and Vanya blanched. 

“Good.” Doctor Tsepeshu said snidely. “Maybe next time, she’ll listen when she's given instructions.”

“That’s not fair, Adorian. There is no way she could have predicted this would happen”

“It’s more than fair,” he told her, his eyes sparking angrily. “in fact, I'd say it’s far too lenient. This is a medical facility. Lives depend on whether instructions have been followed to the letter. If she can't even follow the simple ones, what’s to say she can follow the big ones.” 

Vanya bit her lip again. “I’m...I’m sorry. I didn't mean to. I don't know what happened...I just...”

“It’s not your fault.” Doctor Carver sighed. “As Adorian said, we were warned that something like this might happen.”

“Yeah, well it must be nice. I wish he would have warned me.” Her eyes narrowed in anger and she clenched her suddenly too cold fingers into fists. She opened her mouth, ready to rage at everyone and then she felt a hesitant, worried touch flutter in her mind. Startled, she closed her eyes and tried to calm down.

_It’s alright,_ she soothed, sending back a mental caress, surprised to find that it came from her first baby. The irritated one. They were both already two very distinct individuals and she could... feel the difference between them. It was still too young to really understand emotions but it understood she was hurting and upset and it didn’t like it.

_I'm alright baby_. She soothed again. _It's okay. Everything is fine_. She remembered hearing a happy song about lovelorn hats when she had been younger and she decided to use the trick she used to get them to calm down before and let the song wash over her and go on repeat in her mind.

It poked at her a bit again, still upset and worried, but being her child the music proved to be a Siren's song it was unable to resist and it settled back enthralled and entertained by the mental concert she was putting on for it. 

Vanya exhaled and brought her fingers up to her forehead then opened her amber eyes and tuned back into the real world. To find everyone watching her.

“Are you...talking to them?” Doctor Carver asked and Vanya reared back protectively, staring at her with suspicious eyes. 

Doctor Tsepeshu gave a heavy sigh and scoffed. “Susanna, you’re pushing again. She has only our word as a reason to trust us.” He turned his honey colored eyes to Vanya. “And you. After finding out that Alexander trusts us with your care, you should know that he’s explained things about your abilities to us. If you cannot trust us, then have faith in him. He would not steer you wrong.”

Vanya laughed. “I’m not even supposed to have ‘abilities’! Dad says I’m NORMAL. His Greatest Disappointment." She brought up her fingers and made finger quotes around the abilities. "I'm supposed to be normal. And how...how would he know anyway? He’s gone and this is the first time I've...done anything that's not completely normal."

“You can ask me that, knowing what his abilities are?” He chuckled a bit. “Our friendship is not a linear one, Miss Grace. Alexander...is...shall we say...” He smirked here, “full of surprises.”

Vanya studied the man, looking for any sign of deception in him. Her babies, stirring at her agitation, reached for her in worry. She caressed them mentally then turned up the ‘Perils of Johnny Fedora’ in her mind, cocooned them in her love and kept her amber eyes locked to the strange doctors.

“Regardless,” Doctor Carver said exasperated, breaking the spell and interrupting their standoff. “We need to get your blood sample.” she said, looking at a still shaken Ben. “We also need to get you on some prenatal vitamins and another appointment.”

Doctor Carver looked at Vanya, her green eyes going heavy with responsibility. “We should also discuss your options."

"Options?"

"You have several, Miss Grace, I'm obligated to tell you that this might very well be your only shot at having children. But if you decide you can't have or don't want these babies…"

Vanya's whole body locked up tight and a wave of coldness swept over her as she realized just what the Doctor was implying. 

“Wh...what? Not want them? H...how could you ...THEY'RE MINE!!”

She could hear her heartbeat increase, and her world narrowed down to just that one sound…..

_Her Babies ..how could they think she would ever consent to...her Babies!!! They wanted...They were just like Dad, they wanted...No, they were her babies, hers, and she loved them. No one was going to...She wouldn't… **Let Anyone** take them or hurt them. She wouldn't let them, she…_

"V..!!! VANYA!!! VANYA!!!" She snapped back to reality as her head jerked to the side, her face stinging and she realized poor Ben was standing over her chair, his hand still raised from where he'd obviously just slapped her. His face was a mask of terror, eyes wide and wild and she realized it was as much for her, as it was of her. Doctor Carver was back underneath her desk again and Doctor Tsepeshu remained happily seated, nairy a hair out of place, just as pretty as a picture.

"Are you...are you okay now?" Ben asked, his voice trembling. 

"No one's hurting or taking my babies.” She announced in a deadly calm voice she didn't quite recognize.

"No V,” Ben promised, “they're not. You know I wouldn't let that happen. Doctor Carver didn't mean it, she was just making sure you knew you have options. It's her job. She has to make sure you know that...you're not trapped...that there are things that can be done...if...if you decided that's what was best."

"It's not. They're mine." 

"I know V,” he answered, speaking calmly and raising his hands as if he were speaking to a rabid dog. “No one's going to do anything you don't want them to."

She nodded her head, closed her eyes and took several deep breaths. This was Ben. He’d never lied and he’d never tried to hurt her. He wasn't a threat. She opened them again, when she felt a bit more human and Ben exhaled in relief, flopping down bonelessly into his chair. She looked at him, furrowing her brows together in puzzlement. 

“Your eyes.” he told her softly, answering her unspoken question. “They were white. I... they're normal now but ...the room...the room shook... V...And your eyes turned white.” 

"I don't… what do you mean they went white? My eyes are brown, they…” She looked at him then her face pinched and paled, then she bent over and buried her head in her hands. 

"What the Hell is happening to me?"

"My guess," Doctor Tsepeshu started, "and it's just a theory, I will need to study it further before I'm sure. But my guess would be that the parts I've been unable to identify in your medication,” he sneered at the word, as if it's very existence offended him, “has been suppressing this.” He gestured to the room around them.

“Regardless,” Doctor Carver reiterated, crawling out from under the desk again trying to gather her tattered dignity around her. “What I said before stands. We need to get a blood sample from you and a prescription for you.” She sighed, brushed her hands off on her knees, then she turned.

“Miss Grace,” she waited until Vanya looked up and locked eyes with her. “I know this is probably redundant but I can’t stress this enough. You cannot take anymore of these pills. I do not care if your Father demands it. You. Can. Not. Take. Them. Not if you want your children to be born healthy. At best it would leave you bed ridden and there would be complications before and after the birth. At worst...you miscarry."

Vanya shuddered and her eyes flashed white again but she felt Ben’s hand land on her shoulder and she leaned into it. 

“Now, if that’s all, I'm going to go write you that prescription and send Jen back to get the samples.” She froze and looked thoughtful for a second. "You guys know how to get prescriptions filled right?" She looked at poor Ben and Vanya, who were both looking more than clueless and she sighed. 

“Right, I’ll get you some samples and you can take them home with you.” She saw the protest in Vanya’s eyes and scoffed. “Alexander has pretty much built this clinic from the ground up. For you. We’ve been instructed to get you anything you need. Hell, I think he left Ally with a blank check when he sauntered out today. He makes sure we’re well compensated. Taking a few samples home with you isn't going to kill anyone.” 

Vanya finally gave in and nodded and Doctor Carver tilted her head at Doctor Tsepeshu. 

“Adorian?” she questioned.

He nodded once and then pulled himself to his feet and moved towards the door. He looked back at them one last time and frowned. 

“Take heart Miss Grace, from what Alexander has said... things are going to get bad. But they do get better.” His eyes went dark with sympathy but then he tilted his head and gave a secret smile. “So comes snow after fire,” he quoted, “and even dragons have their ending." Then he turned and followed Doctor Carver out of the room.

****************

“Okay, this is for your nausea.” the nurse prattled on incessantly, raising a bottle of pills at Vanya and shaking it at her. “It's a preventative medication, so it's important that you take it before you go to bed at night. If you don't, it's not going to work."

She was trying to listen, really she was. She knew this was important and she should be on the edge of her seat, absorbing every word the nurse said like her life depended on it, but she was so tired and her head was killing her. Ben was still back with the doctors, getting his blood taken and whatever else they had decided was necessary to find out exactly what Dad had been giving him.

All she wanted was to go home and go to bed. Even though she knew nothing good waited for her back there and the goddess only knew what horrific punishment Dad would force on them for having snuck out, but at least she would have her bed.

"And this,” the nurse droned on, “is your prenatal vitamins.” Vanya flinched at the word _vitamin_ and the nurse looked at her funny for a second before shrugging and moving on. “They go with these.” She picked up two other bottles. “You'll need to take them twice a day. Once when you wake up and then one before bed. Doctor Carver is a little worried about you being anemic, so it’s important that you eat a lot of meat, grains and leafy vegetables if you can.”

Vanya nodded, the pain pulsing behind her right eye then looked up as she heard the familiar beat of a heart approach them. She knew who it belonged to before the door even opened and rather than be scared, she let the beat wash over and soothe her. 

"V…?” Ben asked in a quiet voice, “you ready to go?"

"More than." She answered, unable to look up the light hurting her too sensitive eyes. “Are you ...Are you okay?” She asked, trying to squint at him.

“Not really.” he answered, his voice trembling.

“Me either.” she responded then stood up and hugged him. He stood stiffly in her embrace for a moment then slowly brought his arms up around her. “Can we go home now?” She begged. “Please?”

“Yeah,” he replied, his arms still shaking, “let's go home.”

The Bus ride and walk back to the passageway was silent. Neither of them having much to say, both tired and lost in their own thoughts as they trudged step by exhausted step back up the road to the rock that hid their way back into the mansion. 

Ben stepped up and used his hand to prod at the rock, cursing when he obviously missed the hinge and managed to cut himself. “Stupid, worthless piece of fucking junk.” He reared back and kicked it as hard as he could then cursed again when all it did was earn him a bruised foot to go along with his cut hand. 

He dropped down to sit in the dirt, put his hands in his hair and breathed deep.

"Ben…?” Vanya asked tentatively, reaching out to him and bringing her hand to his shoulder.

"I don't...I don’t understand what's going on V... any of this. Dad’s trying to poison us. Pogo has to be helping him. They’re using Mom to do it and oh yeah, by the way Five, the only other person in this godforsaken house that's even halfway sane besides you and me, is hiding from us. He's hiding from us and he's an old man...He’s just, casually, an old man. And I...I don't know what to do with any of this. How to even begin to process it. How the fuck is any of this real? How? I…” He looked up at her with pain filled amber eyes that matched her own. “This has to be a dream V...it has to be, because it can’t be real. It’s too crazy. I want to wake up now. I just...I want to wake up.” He placed the hills of his hands in his eyes then tried taking deep breaths again.

Vanya bit her lip then sighed and lowered herself to sit in the dirt beside him. 

"I don't think it works like that," she groaned softly, leaning into his side, her head still killing her. 

He slowly got his breathing under control and then turned to look at her. “We can't stay here for much longer. You know that right? Dad's… he really is insane. We have to get out."

"I know." she answered softly.

"I mean I've known it for awhile, that we were going to have to leave. But now, I really know it... know it. He's gonna wind up killing one of us if we don't. "

"I know." she said again, her brown eyes soft with pity and pain. 

He sat there for a minute longer, just breathing and knowing, then he exhaled, put his arm around her and pulled her into a side hug.

"I guess it's time we go face the music, huh? I think we've missed dinner by an hour or so." He let go of her then pulled himself to his feet and reached out to help her up.

She let him and then he searched the rock for the hinge, had better luck getting it to open this time and they stepped inside.

"Maybe we'll get lucky and he'll have decided to go to bed already." Vanya said hopefully as they made their way down the airy hall.

He sent her a weak smile as they reached the other end, then reached out and opened the door. 

Stepping through the door, he looked around in the dark. Not sensing any threats he then reached out and helped her through.

“Christ, it's so dark in here.” Ben mumbled.

"Oh is it?" A new voice asked sarcastically from further inside the room.

Ben jumped then instinctively pushed Vanya behind him.

"Well here, maybe I can help you with that." They heard the clicking of the light switch and were briefly blinded as artificial light flooded the room.

“You two are going to tell me where you've been and what the Hell’s been going on with you lately.” Klaus said, leaning up against the wall, his eyes narrowed into twin jade filled slits that sparked green fire dangerously. “And it had better have been worth me sticking my neck out to cover for your asses. Otherwise I'm going straight to Dad, and you can have fun explaining it all to him.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So yeah, as I said up there, sorry it took me so long to get this up. I hope you enjoyed this chapter and I'll try to get the next one posted soon. I thrive on comments so they're appreciated.


	8. Uncle Klaus/Reaction pt 2

“Fuck!” Klaus exclaimed.

“That’s what I said.” Ben smirked.

“Just Fuck…”

“I said that too.” he snickered and finally managed to look up from his hands and find a little bit of humor in the situation. They’d spent the past few hours sitting around an old wooden table, trying to find the words to explain what was going on, without sounding too crazy. To his credit, Klaus had somehow managed to sit patiently throughout their explanations, keeping quiet, a solemn look on his face as he waited for them to finish. He froze in place for a few minutes, his green eyes wide with disbelief... and then he let loose with the expletives. He said things that Vanya had never heard before in her life, but happily filed into the back of her head for future use. Finally, when he was finished, he looked up from where he was slumped over in a chair. And locked his worried green eyes to Ben's brown.

"So what's the plan?" he asked in a weary voice.

"Huh?" Ben asked back intelligently.

"The plan, Benjamin. Surely you're not naive enough to think we can stay here. Even if Vanya wasn't going to turn into a house in a couple months.” Vanya squeaked indignantly here and he gave her a teasing smile. “There's going to be a baby here soon...excuse me, two babies. Christ on a cracker, Five does the word condom mean nothing to you? Can't you do anything that doesn't exceed expectations? Twins really? It wasn't enough you got her pregnant, you had to get her really pregnant.” He shook his head incredulously then ran his hand down his face. “Even if we could find a way to hide and look past all that...which we totally can't, Dad would eventually notice the crying...there’s still the medication thing.”

He paused for a second, his shoulders hunching up as he leaned further into the table, “Were they positive it was sterilizers?”

“Yeah.” Ben swallowed. “They were sure. Doctor Tsepeshu said it was a mixture of things, some he couldn't identify yet, but that he could smell it coming off of me in waves.”

“And that’s another thing, these weird ass doctors Five’s found for you. How the fuck does a guy _smell_ chemicals coming off of someone?”

“I don't know Klaus!” The little bit of good humor he'd managed to muster at finding Klaus' reaction to be the same as his was quickly evaporating and he could feel himself start to spiral again. “I don't know how he knew anything he knew, but he did. He knew I was taking something before I did.” 

“And how do we know it's just you and Vanya that Dad’s playing Doctor Feel Good with? I mean is he giving them to Luther and Diego too? What about Allison?”

“What about you?” Vanya asked with sad eyes. “Have they given you anything?” 

Klaus looked at her with a timid and slightly sardonic smile. “He wouldn't have had to.” He told her swallowing. “My dear, sweet baby sister...Dad doesn't need to sterilize me and he knows it.” She looked at him with questioning eyes and he sighed. “I bat for the same team, Vanya. I'm not...fond of girls.”

She crinkled her eyes up in confusion for a second and then they went wide in realization.

“Oh.” she said softly. “Oh….”

“Yeah, oh.” Klaus told her with a vulnerable smirk and that made her heart ache for him.

She debated, for a second, biting her lip in indecision, not knowing if he would welcome her affection then shrugged and went to him.

“I'm glad you told me.” She said, wrapping her arms around him in a hug. 

Klaus floundered for a second then gave a sardonic titter. “Don't know how you could have missed it, everyone else seems to know.”

The second Vanya touched him, he felt something foreign poke at his mind. It was irritated and questioning and almost protective. It seemed to examine him at his most basic level and he gaped up at Vanya, whose eyes were closed and her brow furrowed.

“Was that…?”

“Uh huh.” she told him, a small smile on her face. “They seem to like you. They've been poking me like that off and on since the sonogram. Umm...do you ...Do you want to be Uncle Klaus? Ben’s already said he wants to be Uncle Ben...But if you don't want to...I would understand. You don't have to…"

Klaus reached out and put his boney arms around her neck, pulling her into another hug. "Don’t be daft, Vannie, of course I want to. Neither you nor Ben have any kind of fashion sense. Someone is going to have to teach my little nieces or nephews how to dress."

He felt those little minds poke at him again and this time he tried to poke back. Joy and fascination, that he knew wasn't coming from him, erupted inside of him, along with caution and a tiny bit of wonder. 

_Hello there_ , he thought, wondering if they would notice and understand or if he was just amusing himself. _I'm your uncle Klaus_. _I'm going to teach you so many interesting things when you’re old enough._ The joy, that wasn't his, flooded his body once again, only this time it was accompanied by music.

“Hats,” he said, turning laughing eyes to Vanya. "they’re singing to me about hats."

“Oh,” Vanya said, blushing. “While we were in the clinic, I could feel their worry. They kept...well, poking is the best word I can come up with to describe it. They kept poking me, trying to see if I was okay so I...Remember that old Disney cartoon Mom somehow dug up for us when we were little? I kinda let the memory of it play out in my mind for them.”

Klaus giggled and decided to reciprocate and started humming Queen’s Radio Ga Ga at them. 

Vanya raised one eyebrow at him, opened her mouth and then snapped it shut when she heard Ben laugh. It wasn’t the sarcastic snicker from earlier, it was a genuine full on laugh and her whole body seemed to breathe a sigh of relief at the sound. Her shoulders visibly loosened as some of the tension left them. She had been so worried about him when they’d left the clinic. And then the meltdown he had before they came back inside. To see him laugh, even if it was momentary, gave her hope. Klaus winked at her and she smiled back.

"Gotta start them out on the good stuff first. None of this Baby Shark nonsense for my little nieces or nephews, no. Their too intelligent for that foolishness. Isn't that right?" he said, talking towards her stomach. "You’re going to have good taste and listen to things like Queen and David Bowie, aren't you?" He felt that burst of happiness, fill him again and he laughed when they started sending Radio Ga Ga back to him. 

“Hmm, do they do this with everyone?” He asked, his face turning serious as he seemed to realize something. 

"I'm... I'm not sure." Vanya said, stuttering a bit. "You’re the first person I’ve touched, besides Ben, since the sonogram. And that's when they started doing it with me so...I don't know."

"We’re going to have to be very careful while we’re still here. If Dad ever found out about this...If that Doctor is right and you’re meds are to suppress your powers…"

"Shit." Ben cursed, rubbing his eyes. "I never even thought about that. What do we do if someone bumps into her and the babies decide to investigate or start singing to them? They'd go straight to Dad." He paused, rubbing his forehead and tried to think. 

"Which brings me back to my original point, of us not being able to stay here much longer." Klaus told him, his green eyes narrowing in thought. "We've got maybe a month, at best. After that, it's only a matter of time before he notices and we have to be long gone by then."

"We’re going to have to stay hidden too." Ben stated, his voice flat and tired. "There’s no way he’s just going to let his toy soldiers go without a fight. He’ll be looking for us and we’ll have to stay hidden."

"Is that even possible?" Klaus asked. "I mean, how did he even find us in the first place? How did he even know about us? Seven kids, all born with superpowers...that's not very likely. And yes, Vannie, I mean Seven. You said that doctor thinks he's doping you up to suppress yours. Which, when you think about it, isn't really all that far fetched. We all know what I do to suppress mine. Anyway, my point was, how did he find us? And, will he be able to use whatever it was to find us again?"

"I don't know." Ben sighed, closing his eyes and putting his head in his hands again. "I never actually thought about it. My first concern was getting Vanya to a doctor and then things kinda exploded."

Vanya bit her lip and shuddered. She'd never thought about any of this before. Not really. Oh, she'd wondered about her parents. Who her mother and father were and why they’d given her up. On the nights when Dad had been particularly brutal or the others had gone too far with their teasing, she'd fantasize about her parents showing up out of nowhere and taking her away from it all. She'd never actually thought or wondered about how Hargreeves had found them to begin with though. 

“He wanted to hide in time,” Vanya whispered, hesitantly looking up at them. “It's the whole reason he left. He asked me _when_ I wanted to go to and then told me he had to test it out first, to make sure it was safe. But he stressed that Dad could never find us, if we were hiding in time.” 

“Which implies that he does have some way of finding us.” Ben exhaled, his face lined with worry.

“Or Five thought he did anyway.” Klaus countered.

She felt like a rat caught in a trap and a desperate sound must have escaped her throat, because Klaus immediately caught her up in a hug again and Ben's stressed eyes softened. 

"Hey, it's going to be alright." Ben told her, standing up from across the table and coming around to her other side. "We're just going to have to figure this all out and plan ahead. We'll have to be smarter than him, that's all. What was it Five used to say that pissed Luther off so much…?"

"Even strength bows to wisdom." Klaus snorted. "God, I had forgotten about that. Used to set Luther off like nothing else. He hated it. He’d go all self righteous and leadery and try to order us to do something stupid. And then Five would just smirk that sarcastic, shit eating grin of his. Inform Luther of every possible flaw and hole in his plan. Making sure to stress where things could and would go wrong, then he'd quote that quote and tell _him_ what _he_ was going to do."

_**(Somewhere in Bosnia, back in 1914, Five sneezed then cursed as he trained and adjusted the sights on a gun, trying to find the best angle.)** _

"Are you sure it was him?" Klaus asked, looking at them both with aggrieved eyes. "The old man? You’re positive it was Five." 

"Yeah." Vanya said softly, casting her eyes down and swallowing. "It was him. I...felt him."

"What do you mean 'you felt him'?" Klaus asked. 

"Why do the both of you keep asking me that? I don't know how to be any clearer. I mean, just what I said. I _felt_ him. I felt everything he was feeling! From the self loathing, to the longing, despair, and loneliness, I FELT it all. And I heard him! He told me he was sorry. He was so lonely and so hurt. And he was telling me _he_ was sorry. I just let him walk away. He walked right by me, Klaus, and I didn't do anything to stop him I just...let him go."

"Vanya…" Ben said in a calming voice he didn't really feel. "You have to calm down. We can't afford for you to make the house shake here."

"I know." she said, taking deep breaths and trying to quiet her mind. "I'm just...I don't understand why. You said before, that you didn't understand any of this. Well, guess what? I don't either. I don't understand any of this any more than you do. I'm not....I... this isn't normal, nothing about any of this is normal. I'm supposed to be normal. I'm not equipped to deal with this. I'm supposed to be normal and ordinary and I should have done something. Grabbed him, tried to talk to him...anything. I just let him go again."

"Oh Vannie," Klaus sighed. "I thought you knew. No one _lets_ Five do anything. If he wanted to go, there wasn't _anything_ you could have said or done to stop him."

“I could have…"

“No,” Klaus interrupted and stopped her. “You couldn't have. I'm willing to bet, he hasn't changed all that much. At most, you could have stalled or delayed him but it still would have ended the same.” She looked up at him with watery eyes and she could feel the pain building back up in her head again. 

“My head hurts.” she told them, finally feeling very young and foolish. She sniffed and pulled her sleeve across her eyes and nose.

“We really should be going to bed.” Ben responded, clearly sounding tired. “What time is it anyway?” 

“It was around ten or so when I last looked at a clock,” Klaus informed them. “Granted, that was before you guys came stumbling back through the passageway, so I’m guessing it’s around two or three now. Thank God Five kept fucking with the camera systems, otherwise we’d all be screwed.” 

“He didn't like sleeping alone.” Vanya said, giving a pained whimper and folding her arms up so she could lay her aching head on the stained oak of the table. “Was upset when he realized they were in the way so he decided to take care of it. Heh, I guess it worked.”

“How did you explain our absence anyway?” Ben asked in a weary voice as he pushed his chair back from the table. Klaus snickered and Vanya felt him smooth some of her hair back. 

“Let’s just say...well, don't be surprised if you get some weird looks tomorrow at breakfast.” 

“Klaus, what did you do?” Ben asked in a worried voice.

“Covered for you, of course, dear brother.” he answered in an innocent voice as he stood up then put his hand on Vanya’s shoulder. 

“Come on, Vannie, it's late and we’re going to have to be up in time for breakfast tomorrow. Dad won't accept you guys missing two meals in a row.” He helped her to stand up then began to lead her towards the door. 

“Klaus?” Ben called worriedly as he got up from the table and hurried after them. “What did you TELL THEM?”

Klaus just laughed merrily and helped Vanya out the door. 

“Klaus…..KLAUS!!!”

*********************************************

Morning and Mom’s wake up knock came way too early. Cranky from too little sleep and too much excitement from yesterday, Vanya managed to throw on a uniform and stumble out of her door, to find an equally cranky Ben and a Happy Klaus waiting for her.

“You’re way too excited for this early in the morning.” Vanya grunted as they started moving down the stairs. 

“Nope.” Klaus said happily, popping his P. “I think I'm just the right amount of happy for this situation.” She looked at him suspiciously, through sleep fogged eyes and he smirked back at her. 

“What did you do?” she asked in a worried and slightly amused voice.

“Why Vannie? What are you insinuating? I’m hurt that you would think I would do anything that…”

“Hey Ben.” Deigo said, fidgeting uncomfortably as he made his own way towards the Dining Room. “Are you... feeling any better this morning...?”

Ben looked at him in bewilderment, “...Yeah I was just tired but I’m feeling way better this morning.”

“That...That’s good.” Diego stuttered and then turned around and fled the rest of the way to the dining room. 

Klaus snickered then shrugged as Ben turned his glare on him. 

They continued on their way into breakfast, each standing at attention behind their chairs waiting for Dad to show up. 

“Hey Ben.” Luther nodded. “You okay over there?” 

“Yeah…” he answered, his jaw ticking. “I’m fine.” 

“Klaus told us you...weren't feeling well yesterday.” he said diplomatically. “It's good to know you’re feeling better.”

“Uh..huh..did he now?” Ben sent a vicious look, full of daggers at Klaus, who just smiled innocently back at him and sent a wink at Vanya, while the rest of their siblings threw sympathetic looks at Ben.

Hargreeves, finally joined them at the table, told them all to sit and gestured to Grace. Vanya couldn't stop herself from making a face and snorting as the strains of some old German guy filled the room, explaining how to tie knots. Klaus snickered and Mom slid a plate of eggs in front of her. She poked them with her fork for a second then marveled at the fact that her stomach hadn’t decided to rebel. Taking a moment to thank God or Doctor Carver for the nausea medication, she brought her egg loaded fork to her mouth and choked when Hargreeves turned his attention to her.

“Number Seven, I assume your appearance this morning means your dramatics are over?”

She coughed a bit, bringing her napkin up to her mouth then nodded and he raised a single derisive eyebrow at her. 

“Good. See that it doesn't happen again. Menstruation is no excuse for you missing lessons. And you Number Six…” He turned his eyes on poor Ben, who was trying to make himself as small as possible. “The next time you have something that might be as serious as Cyclospora infection, you are to go straight to Grace, do you understand? You will not lock yourself in one of the bathrooms for hours and then flee to your room. Is that clear? There is no need to suffer or miss training when something as simple as a pill could and would clear it all up for you.”

 

Ben grit his teeth and clutched at his napkin in anger. It would be a cold day in Hell before he ever trusted anything medicine-wise that came from any of the three adults in his life ever again. He felt something nudge his ankle and he looked up to find Klaus nervously urging him to give the right answer. He could see Vanya casting him worried looks from the corner of his eyes and he sighed. He couldn't afford to rock the boat right now, they had too many balls in the air. 

“I understand.” he mumbled, looking at his plate again. 

“Speak up, Number Six. How do you expect criminals to listen to you, if you can’t even give me a clear and precise answer?”

Amber eyes, that were filled with hate, shot up to lock with Hargreeves emotionless grey ones and Ben could feel the Horrors writhing underneath his skin in excitement, begging to be let loose on the old man. Klaus reached out and put a supportive hand into the bend of his elbow and Ben took a deep breath, trying to steady himself.

“I said, I understand.” He hissed, trying hard to keep his voice neutral. He turned back to his plate and began to shove fork fulls of eggs into his mouth, pretending he couldn't feel the astonished eyes coming from Numbers One through Three or the worried and sympathetic glances he knew both Klaus and Vanya were throwing him.

Hargreeves narrowed his eyes behind his monocle for a few seconds but then seemed to let it go. “See that you do.” He ordered then turned back to his own breakfast and began to eat.

They were well into the morning lessons before anything of note happened again. Vanya was sitting ensconced protectively between both Klaus and Ben, trying not to doze off as Mom lectured on and on about the first World War and the single death that had sparked and set off the conflict. She felt her head lower slowly to settle on Ben’s shoulder then jerked awake, her eyes wide. She deftly managed to tough it out for all of five minutes but finally decided to just screw it, gave in and made herself comfortable on Ben’s shoulder again and let herself doze. She was five minutes into a happy dream when the Mission alarm went off and she jerked awake again in fear. 

She bit her lip and turned her worried eyes to both Ben and Klaus, who were already up, getting ready to leave. It was the first time there had been a mission since she’d found out she was pregnant and she couldn't help but worry. Ben sent her a wry smile and Klaus placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder as they made their way towards the door. 

“Chin up, Vannie.” he encouraged. “We’ll be back soon.”

“Be careful.” she cautioned them, heedless of whoever might be watching them. They both smiled at her then disappeared out the door. 

It was hours later before she saw them again. She sat through the rest of her lessons, feeling like she was going to come out of her skin. The thought of what Hargreeves would do to her if he found out she could access her powers was the only thing keeping her from completely losing it and probably bringing the mansion down on top of their heads. She was unable to retain any of the information or do anything, and Mom finally seemed to take pity on her and allowed her to wait for the others back in the main room.

There was a horribly old and ugly couch that filled the room and she settled herself on it, for what had to be hours, forcing herself to relax, amusing and playing mental music for her babies as they basked and glowed in her love and praise. She was just starting to doze off again when she heard the arguing. 

“I don't care! I don't care if you thought…..NO!! Stop TALKING! STOP TALKING NOW!” Ben was screaming at someone and Vanya had just enough time to sigh in relief at him being okay as the door to the main room flew open and he came charging in Luther two steps behind him, obviously trying to reason with him.

“Ben, there was no time, I--”

“I don't give a shit, Luther...I DON’T! You weren't the one who had to…” he gulped here, wringing his hands and shaking his head as Luther reached out to grab his arm, trying to get him to calm down and listen, so he could explain something but Ben wasn't having any of it.

“NO! You weren't the one who had to kill them, Luther, I WAS! You didn't have to listen to their screams and their begging. Or the sounds their bodies made when the life was crushed out of them and know it was your fault! I DID!! I…” 

Klaus made a desperate sound, deep in his throat and pushed his hand through his hair, nervously shifting from one foot to another then turned and gasped as he realized she was in the room. He mouthed an ‘oh shit’ then grabbed Ben’s arm, interrupting him in mid-rant, frantically hissing at him. Ben turned to see her on the couch, his eyes going wide with horror and disbelief and she finally managed to register exactly what it was she was seeing.

Mess didn't even begin to describe it. He looked like he had just stepped off the set of a horror movie. He was covered from head to toe in blood. His hair, a wild mass of tangles, that stuck up in all directions. His face and skin blotchy in places, where the blood had dried and flaked off a stark red contrast against the paleness of his complexion. The worst by far, though was the Horror and the self loathing that had settled itself deep into his face and eyes, replacing the anger when he realized she was here watching. He closed his eyes and shook his head in desperation then took several deep breaths, his arms coming up around himself in a kind of a self hug. 

“I'm going to take a shower now.” he told them all, his face and voice seeming to be carved from stone. He moved towards the stairs, his eyes flat with a dead quality to them and Vanya found that she was suddenly very afraid for him. 

“Ben,” Luther called. “we’re not finished talking about this. You need to understand, I….” he reached out to grab his arm again but Ben was too fast for him. Jerking out of his range, Ben turned his eyes, an angry mass of glowing amber as he glared black death at him. 

“Fuck off.” he announced loudly then turned and made his way up the stairs and slammed the first bathroom door he could find.

The others stood around the room quietly for a bit, no one really having any idea what to say. Diego was the first to break, he looked at Luther with disgust, made a tsking sound then took the stairs two at a time, up to one of the free bathrooms and slammed the door himself. Luther turned to Allison, his face begging for understanding and she pulled him over to a corner and they began to have a heated discussion. 

That left Klaus, who was standing at the foot of the stairs, he turned back to look at Vanya then moved over and flopped down on the couch beside her. 

“What happened Klaus?” she asked, softly biting her lip in anxiety. 

“Nothing good, Vannie.” he told her solemnly. “He’ll never admit it, but Luther made a bad call ...and Ben had to clean up after it.” 

“By bad call you mean…”

Klaus sighed. “Just what I said, a bad call. Usually, Five manages to pick up the slack and stop the bad calls before they can even begin. Has that whole ‘being able to predict several moves ahead of everyone else’ thing. But he’s not here, so that leaves Ben. Luther fucks up and Ben winds up...well yeah.”

“Is..is he going to be okay?” she asked, shifting in her seat worriedly. 

“To be honest, I don't know. The sooner we get out of here, the better. Something has to give soon and I'm hoping we’re long gone before it finally does.” He pushed his hand through his hair again then looked over at Luther and Allison, who’s conversation had gone from heated to explosive. 

“I'm going to go and try to save our fearless leader from himself, before he puts his foot into it anymore than he already has. Then I'm going for a shower. I’ll see you at dinner.” He managed to give her a weak smile then pushed himself up and made his way over to the arguing pair, cracked a joke and gestured towards the stairs. Luther looked at Allison, his shoulders slumped and his face a mask of determination as if he could make her see his side and agree with it through sheer will. 

Allison, for her part, heaved a heavy sigh then turned her back on them and froze as she realized Vanya was sitting on the couch and had witnessed everything that had just happened. Her chestnut colored eyes narrowed to slits and Vanya felt herself shrink backwards into the merger protection the couch seemed to offer. She tore her eyes away from Allison’s, looking desperately for Klaus, only to find him already halfway up the stairs, trying to console Luther. 

“Vanya,” Allison snapped, pulling her attention back to her cold, chocolate eyes. “We really need to talk. I don’t know exactly what it is that you think you’re doing with Ben, but it stops. Now.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And I'm back with another chapter. I hope you guys enjoyed it. As always comments are appreciated. They feed and keep me writing.


	9. Three...Two..

Something was up. She wasn't sure exactly what it was yet, but you could cut the tension with a knife. You would have had to have been blind, deaf, and extremely stupid not to see it. Allison, for all her faults, was not stupid. For the past week, Vanya had been walking around in an absent-minded fog. This wasn't really anything new, and she would have chalked it up to Five's disappearance, but then Ben seemed to join her. Now every time she even glanced in their direction, they had their heads bent down together, whispering and plotting and...it made her nervous. 

Allison didn’t like being nervous. Being nervous meant she wasn't in control of a situation and there was _**nothing**_ she hated more than _**not**_ being in control. Bad things tended to happen when she wasn't and it was best to just avoid those situations altogether, as far as she was concerned.

If that wasn't enough, Klaus of all people seemed to have noticed and, if she was reading the situation right, (and in her mind, there was no way she wasn’t) he was just as agitated as she was. Correction he _**had been** _just as agitated as she was. After their little disappearing act and his subsequent cover-up (really Klaus? Explosive diarrhea? Really?) he seemed to have lost the jealousy aspect and joined them in their exclusive little fog club. Speaking of, she didn't care what he said, she _**knew**_ both Vanya and Ben had left the house. She had gone so far as to check Vanya's room, where Klaus had insisted she was hiding under the covers, wrecked with cramps and refusing to see anyone. As if Vanya would complain to Klaus, of all people, about cramps. The girl had turned 13 different shades of pale and nearly had an aneurysm when Allison had asked to borrow a pad the other day, for Christ’s sake. No, the only thing in Vanya's room last night had been an empty bed with the open window, causing the curtains to blow over it emphasizing that fact.

 

Ben and Vanya had left the house. And what's more, they’d used _her passageway_ to do it! Her passageway!! The one she’d spent days cleaning and clearing out. The one she had taken great pains to ensure Dad, Pogo, and Mom had no idea about, when she and Luther had first found it. The one she'd very thoroughly warned all of them not to tell Vanya or Five about, when she’d finally revealed its existence to the others. That meant Ben (who was normally as timid as a mouse where she was concerned) thought that whatever it was they were doing was important enough to risk her ire, and ignore the one rule she'd made just to take Vanya down it. 

Yes it was petty, and maybe it was slightly mean, if she were being honest, but Vanya had Five dammit. She'd had him wrapped around her little finger from day one and he could, and would, have taken her anywhere on the planet she'd wanted to go. Allison had realized the potential of using Five’s powers to sneak out pretty early on and had asked him (very nicely in her opinion) to teleport her to one of the outlet stores she’d seen in the pages of a magazine she’d read, during one of the interviews Dad had (forcibly) scheduled for them. Five being Five had raised a single eyebrow and looked at her as if she were insane. When he didn't answer, she’d choked back her anger, pride, and impatience and asked again. This time he’d laughed at her then told her that he was neither a horse nor her chauffeur.

“Besides,” he informed her in that smug, superior all knowing voice that let her know he was about to say something that was going to enrage her. “You’ve got two legs and a heartbeat. Find your own way there.” 

It had taken everything she had to not rumor him into doing something truly humiliating that his pride would never recover from. The only thing really stopping her was the thought of the punishment and Hell she knew Dad would rain down on her. To this day, she still wasn't sure even that would have been enough to stop her, if Vanya hadn't chosen that moment to enter the room.

Five visibly paused and it was as if Allison, along with everything else in the room, ceased to exist for him. He immediately made his way over to her and they greeted each other with genuine smiles and Allison felt the green beast of jealousy rise up and start to roar within her. Oh she didn't want Five, that was a ridiculous and laughable thought. At that moment, she would have happily chopped him up into tiny little pieces put his remains in a box and then set them on fire. No she didn't want Five...but she wanted someone to look at her in the same way that he was looking at Vanya. 

He looked at her like she was everything. The Sun and the Moon. The be all and end all of his world. And as much as Allison loved Luther and knew that he loved her….he had never even once looked at her like that. So why did Vanya...who had no powers, was absolutely ordinary, and was such a mousy little thing in both looks and attitude, get to have it? What did she do to deserve having the one thing Allison had always wanted, but could never quite seem to get? She felt a burning pit open up in her stomach and her fist clenched as she watched Five move some of Vanya's hair behind her ear in a tender gesture that caused her cheeks to dust a pretty pink. Allison wondered again for what had to be the thousandth time why Dad, who seemed to be so obsessed with keeping her and Luther apart, ignored the giant, fat, pink dancing elephant in the corner of the room that was Five and Vanya.

Sighing, she tried to shake off the memories and remind herself that it was all in the past. Five was long gone, and Vanya was something to be pitied now. She had quite literally lost the only person she really had, in a single night and as much as she resented her, Allison couldn't help but feel sorry for her. Closing her eyes, she leaned back into the car’s seat and tried to let the low rumbling of its engine bring her back to the here and now. The problem was that the now wasn’t pretty, and given the choice, she’d rather be anywhere else. Luther had fucked up again, which really wasn't all that surprising, seeing as how he had never been very good with hostage situations. He couldn't seem to understand the darker sides of people; their wants, desires, and ambitions, so he had no idea how to negotiate with them. It was okay when Five was here, because he did. He understood that darker part of humanity and he managed to somehow pick up the slack. But now... Why Dad insisted on sending Luther on these missions was beyond her and as usual of late, Ben had been the one who wound up paying the price. She bit her lip and tried not to wince as she turned her eyes to her shy and intelligent, but utterly sensitive, and dare she say it, sweet brother. 

He was folded in on himself, sitting on the very edge of the car’s bench seat. His mouth clenched in a straight line, eyes squeezed shut, and his arms up around himself. His fingers dug little furrows into his forearms and it was obvious he was trying not to touch anything. The blood he was covered in was starting to dry, and every time the car hit a bump or jerked, a bit it would flake off to the ground and seat around him. 

Klaus, who was worrying at his bottom lip with his teeth, reached out with a hesitant hand then seemed to think better of it and pulled his arm back into his chest. Allison met his eyes and marveled at the misery and vulnerability she found there. A well of protectiveness, even she didn't know existed, suddenly roared up within her and she decided right then and there that whatever the fuck was going on with Vanya, she wasn't going to let her drag their two brothers down with her. No, Vanya was going to have to deal with her problems on her own. And Allison ...well it wouldn’t be the first time she’d had to rumor Vanya to protect the others. Allison would do whatever she had to, to protect her family.

 

****

“Vanya!” Allison snapped, pulling Vanya’s attention back to her cold, chocolate eyes. “We really need to talk. I don’t know exactly what it is that you think you’re doing with Ben, but it stops. Now.”

“Wh...What?” Vanya stuttered, fear and dread rising up inside of her like a tidal wave and then crashing back down through her veins like a tornado.

Oh goddess, did she know? Did Allison...know about her babies? Had she already gone to Dad? Vanya clenched her fists and tried to take deep, even calming breaths. She had to think rationally. Dad hadn’t come sweeping up out of the bowels of Hell to lock her up yet, so Allison couldn't have told him. She had to calm down right now before stuff….. happened and she gave herself away.

“I don't know what you’re talking about.” Vanya said, stiffening her spine, rising from the couch, and praying Klaus or Ben would come back down stairs. “I’m not doing anything with him. I…”

 

“Don’t lie to me Vanya!” Allison demanded, her voice having gone as cold as her eyes. “Do you think I’m stupid? That I wouldn't notice you’d gone more spacey than normal? Did you seriously believe I wouldn't notice you and Ben sneaking out, using _my passageway_ yesterday?”

Oh God, _she knew_. Allison knew, she knew that she and Ben had snuck out last night and she…

Vanya felt the walls start to close in on her and that dangerous bubble, that she'd felt inside of her when she was on the sonogram table, tried to reform itself. She closed her eyes and breathed deeply, in a desperate bid to stop it. What would Five do? What would he say? How would he have handled this, if it were him? It was as if an imaginary switch was flipped in her brain and suddenly, her mind was flooded with his strong and steady presence.

_"Ah.” he seemed to whisper to himself, his mental voice wrapping around her and soothing her soul like a balm. “It’s that time already, is it? I see. She’s arrogant, Anya. Use that. Let her say what she wants, agree to whatever it takes to get out of there un-rumored. Then leave. Go find Klaus or Ben, then make sure you’re never in a room alone with her again. Understand?”_

_“Under.. I, wha ...Five,”_ she thought, her mind desperate and pleading.

“ _Understand_?” His voice demanded again when she just kind of stood there in disbelief.

“ _I...”_

_"You're taking too long. Answer her before she gets any ideas and this becomes even more of an issue than it already is._ "

"I..I don't know what you’re talking about." Vanya managed to stutter out. "There really isn't anything going on. You heard Dad last night. I had...I had cramps, so I went to bed early, that's all...I--”

"Oh, spare me your lies, Vanya. I know you weren't in bed yesterday and, to put it bluntly, I really don't care. Whatever stupid thing you do, or punishment you earn is up to you. Dad will find out. He always does. What I do care about is Ben. He doesn't deserve this. I'm not letting you drag him down with you. He’s been through enough. He has bigger things to worry about than your little dramas.”

That made her mad.

"My little…You utter and complete bi- -“

_"VANYA!_ " Five’s voice barked in her mind again, stopping her before she could finish that sentence. Closing her eyes, she shook her head and tried to center herself again. 

“I don't have little dramas, Allison. Unlike you I'm not allowed luxuries like those." Her palm itched and it took everything she had not to reach out and smack the condescending and holier than thou look right off her sister’s smug face.

“ _Calm down.”_ she heard Five soothe, in that soft and honeyed tone, that he'd only used that one time when they were together. _"Let it go. She's not worth it. She's not worth you or our babies lives."_

Vanya looked up to find Allison staring at her with narrowed and even angrier eyes. 

"He's not Five, Vanya. No matter how much you want him to be...no matter how much you pretend. Ben isn't Five. The fact that you're trying to use him as a replacement is despicable.”

Vanya had thought she was mad before. That had nothing on this. A slow burn, that started in her stomach, rose up and consumed her body with fire. She was certain she heard glass shatter in the background but she couldn't really find it within herself to care. 

"How dare you?! How dare you even insinuate...that I would...that I ...could ever... EVER, replace him!” She clenched her jaw and gritted her teeth. “He was..He is..." she corrected herself, too angry to even speak properly, "every…. I'm not you, Allison." She finally managed to get out around her clenched jaw. "What you would do, and what I do, are two very different things. I don't see people as obstacles to be bent and twisted to my will. I don't see them as replaceable objects to be moved or enslaved if they get in the way of what I want. I...How fucking dare you..?!" A high pitched ringing started up in her ears and seemed to fuel the bubble inside of her body and suddenly she didn't care anymore. About Dad, about the others. She wanted to hurt her. She wanted Allison to hurt just as much as she was. And she could do it. All she had to do was to slip, just a little. To let go of that bubble inside of herself just a little and Alison would... 

" _VANYA!"_ That voice again. Who did it belong to? Why was it so insistent...what did it...Five, yes it was Five, what did he want again?

_“Shit, you told me this got bad but I didn't realize how bad it actually got...Calm down.” He soothed. “You have to calm down. It's not safe.”_

Calm down? He wanted her to calm down? Had he not heard what had just been said to her? Had he not…

“ _I heard_ ,” he soothed. “ _I heard, but you can't rise to her bait. You're better than this, you have to be. You have more important things to worry about.”_

He obviously didn't understand, so she took all the hurt and rage, the pain and loneliness and threw it to the corner of her brain where she felt his presence the strongest.

“ _She hurt me._ ” she sent, desperate for him to understand. “ _She hurt me and…”_

_“Yes, she hurt you but you are better than this. She’s a spoiled little girl, who’s always been given everything she wants and you're an adult.”_

_“You’re the adult Vanya,_ ” he soothed. _“You’re the adult. You’re better than this. You have to be better than this. I expect more from you.”_

_“YOU’RE NOT HERE!!” She flung back the anger burning in her stomach again. “YOU’RE NOT HERE!! You’ve left me here and I'm tired. I'm so tired and I don't want to be the adult anymore. I'm sick of it. I'm sick to death of it all! I'm so sick of always having to be the understanding one. I'm sick of always taking their crap. And I am so, gods be damned, sick of them getting to say or do whatever they want to me and being expected to just lay down and take it. I’m sick to death of them all! You’ve left me alone, Five. You’ve left me here all alone and I--_

_“You’re not alone.” he told her in that flat voice that he used when he was stating something he thought was obvious. “Ben is there, and if I'm getting the timeline right as of last night, Klaus is too. It won’t be forever. Things are hard where you are at the moment, but it does get better. I promise, Vanya, it gets better. You just have to be strong for a little bit longer. I know it’s hard. But I also know you can do it.”_

_I--_

“What the Hell is going on down here?” a voice demanded, flipping that imaginary switch again and knocking Vanya out of her headspace and away from what she hoped was Five and not just her mind finally breaking under all the pressure and playing tricks on her. 

“Nothing.” Allison snapped, the anger filling her voice and coming off of her body in ways. 

“Uh-huh, and that’s why you both look like your ready to rip the other’s face off with your fingernails.”

“You know Diego, this really doesn't have anything to do with you, so why don’t you take your cute little remarks and your half assed observations and go mind your own damn business.” 

“You know Allison, I’d love to really, I would, but then I’d be doing what you wanted and you know how I feel about that.” Allison clenched her fists and jaw tightly. If looks could kill, Diego would be dead on the floor.

“I don’t have time for this stupidity.” She announced to the room angrily. “I meant what I said, Vanya. This is your only warning. Stay away from him. Next time, I won’t be so nice.” She turned and left the room without a backward glance. Vanya gritted her teeth, closed her eyes, and started taking desperate, deep breaths as she tried to force all her anger and pain (along with that dangerous bubble) back down into a tiny box in the back of her mind. 

“Should I even bother to ask what’s going on, or are you going to give me the same answer she did?”

Vanya tried, she really did, but looking up at Diego’s annoyed but slightly worried face was too much. She wanted to be the strong adult Five apparently thought she was but she also wanted to just go lie down, hide under her covers, and never come back out.

“I don't feel good.” she hiccupped, her bottom lip trembling and her eyes filling up with water. Big, fat tears started to escape her eyes, rolling down her cheeks in rivets and Diego went from Badass Batman to fumbling Peter Parker in 2 seconds flat. 

“Hey now, no, NO!! Don’t do that!!” he said semi-hysterical, his eyes wide in a kinda manic fear. “You’re not allowed to do that!! Fuck, I dont know what to do for a crying person. You’re not supposed to cry. Jesus.” He looked at her, wringing his hands suddenly, not knowing where to put them or what he should do with them. “I can go get Ben, if you want. You guys seem to be pretty close lately, and he probably knows how to deal with this better than I do.” This statement did not help. If anything, this seemed to make her cry harder and Diego wondered what could have happened in the short time it took him to shower, to leave her so devastated. Scratch that, he knew what had happened. Allison had happened. Whatever she’d said had left their usually passive emotionless sister in pieces. Which was an achievement in and of itself. He’d seen Vanya sit stone faced and unaffected through lectures he knew would have destroyed him if Dad had ever directed them at him. Five usually tried to shield her and take the brunt of it. But he wasn't here and in the three months he’d been gone Dad had opened the floodgates. Pangs of sadness and loss tore through his body, at the thought of his missing brother and he tried to push those thoughts to the back of his mind. It was better not to think about that. There was absolutely nothing he could do to change or improve that situation, and thinking about it would only make it hurt worse. 

Sighing and pushing his hand through his hair, he wondered again just exactly what Allison had said, that had left Vanya so devastated and just who it was she was warning her to stay away from. He gingerly lifted his right hand, and placed it on her shoulder, in a desperate bid to comfort her. “Look I know I'm no Five bu…..”

The second his skin touched hers, he knew it was a mistake and something had gone horribly wrong. It swept through his mind like a hurricane, leaving him shocked and disoriented. All his memories and all his fears, all his dreams, his wants, everything that made him Diego was taken, played out in his mind’s eye and examined in meticulous detail. He gasped and doubled over, his brown eyes wide in dumbfounded shock when (it?) finally let him go. 

He vomited. 

He vomited all over the floor, emptying his stomach until there was nothing left and then, gave a few extra dry heaves for good measure.

Hunched over barely managing to hold himself up he couldn’t stop himself from tilting over to the side a bit and letting the wall support his weight. 

“Jesus,” he muttered as he shuddered and brought his shaking hand up, to wipe his mouth with the back of his sleeve. “Jesus”, embarrassment flooded him and he glanced up, only to find Vanya staring back, her tear stained face white and her amber eyes blown wide with fear. 

“Wh…” he coughed and then cleared his throat, trying to get his head to stop spinning. Opening his mouth, he tried again. 

“Wha--?”

“Vanya?” A voice called from the stairs. “Oh My God, are you sick?” Klaus’ worry and panicked voice called from the stairs. “Ben!” he called recklessly “Ben! Get down here now! Vanya’s sick!” Diego could hear his feet as they pounded a hysterical rhythm on the stairs and he couldn't help but feel just a tiny bit miffed that he was the one who had just heaved his guts up all over the floor and was being overlooked. 

“Klaus, why are you yelling?” a quiet and emotionally exhausted voice called out from the top of the stairs. “You could have just come and…” Diego could tell the second Ben noticed the mess he’d left on the floor, because his whole demeanor changed. “Vanya?” he called, his voice suddenly alert and full of worry. The sound of feet feet flying down the stairs echoed in his ears again and Diego was able to look up, to find both Klaus and Ben hovering around Vanya in worry.

“I’m...I’m okay.” she managed to get out. “I’m not sick.” She mumbled then pointed a shaky finger at Diego. “He...he touched me. He touched my shoulder and then he was sick. I don’t…” She wrung her hands and looked around nervously. “I don’t know what happened. Ben...Ben, I think they did what they did with Klaus and he had a bad reaction. I..”

“It’s alright.” Ben told her soothingly. “It's going to be okay.”

“We’ve got to clean this up before someone notices.” Klaus stated firmly, in a voice that Diego had never heard come from him before. “If Dad finds it--I'm going to go...get a mop or something,” he shook his head frantically before practically running out of the room and Diego coughed again.

He looked up at the two sets of matching amber eyes that were staring back at him. One full of fear and the other hard with protectiveness. His adams apple bobbed as he swallowed and finally managed to get his throat clear enough to talk.

“What, in the ever loving fuck, was that?!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yup, Im still updating this. Sorry it took me so long I got distracted with other things. I hope you enjoyed it. Comments and Kudos keep me inspired and writing. They are appreciated.


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